Refill supplies of liquefied petroleum gas cylinders to households in Chennai and neighbourhood by market leader Indian Oil Corporation are taking 10 days.
Taking into account the mandatory three-week gap that is required between two refill supplies, consumers have to wait for a month.
Sources among Indane distributors say in some cases it takes more than 10 days. They complained that those attached to the bottling plant in suburban Manali are getting less than the usual number of loads for some weeks now. Last month, there were reports of labour problem at the facility.
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October-December is also the period when LPG consumption by households is relatively high on account of festivals and winter season.
The distributors add that the oil company had earlier this month issued a circular directing them to stop issue of second cylinders to new customers. It had also asked the distributors to stop new connections in case their floor stock is low.
On Monday, the three national oil companies -- the other two being BPCL and HPCL -- told a meeting chaired by Food Minister E.V. Velu that that they would issue 1.86 lakh connections next month under the free LPG scheme of the State government. According to distributors, this would only aggravate the situation.
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A senior IOC official, however, says that there was no need for panic and the backlog was only for about five to seven days in the city, adding that it is due to a spurt in bookings and that supplies are being augmented.