New Delhi, April 8 (NationPress) The government has declared that the commercial LPG limit will be raised to 70% of the bulk consumption level as it stood before March 2026, specifically targeting industrial sectors including pharmaceuticals, food, polymers, agriculture, packaging, paint, uranium, heavy water, steel, seeds, metals, ceramics, foundries, forging, glass, and aerosols. This increment is to be regulated by an overall sectoral cap of 0.2 thousand metric tonnes per day.

Furthermore, industries must comply with registration requirements with oil marketing companies when applying for PNG to CGD entities in order to benefit from this bulk LPG allocation. However, if LPG is a vital component in the manufacturing process or is used for specialized applications that cannot be replaced by natural gas, the PNG application requirement will be waived, as stated by an official announcement.

Additionally, the government has increased the average daily supply of 5 kg LPG cylinders for migrant workers, rising from a daily average of 77,000 to over 1.1 lakh cylinders sold nationwide in February alone, totaling approximately 8.9 lakh cylinders since March 23.

Since March 14, 93,085 metric tonnes of commercial LPG have been sold, with 6,646 MT sold on Tuesday alone, equating to more than 3.5 lakh 19 kg cylinders. A committee consisting of three executive directors from Indian Oil, HPCL, and BPCL is collaborating with state authorities and industry organizations to streamline commercial LPG distribution.

The statement also reassured that delivery of domestic LPG cylinders remains steady, with over 53.5 lakh cylinders delivered on Tuesday and no reports of shortages from LPG distributors. The sector has observed a rise in online bookings for LPG, reaching about 95%, while Delivery Authentication Code (DAC) based deliveries have surged to approximately 91% to prevent diversion at the distributor level.

In the meantime, enforcement measures continue to be implemented across the nation to combat hoarding and black marketing of LPG, leading to around 4,000 raids and the seizure of over 1,000 cylinders on Tuesday. To date, more than 56,000 LPG cylinders have been confiscated across the country, as noted in the statement.

States have been encouraged to facilitate the initiation of new PNG connections for both domestic and commercial consumers.

All refineries are functioning at full capacity, maintaining adequate crude inventories. The nation also has sufficient stocks of petrol and diesel, and domestic LPG production from refineries has been escalated to meet local consumption needs, according to the statement.

The government is making every effort to ensure the availability of petrol, diesel, and LPG, advising citizens to refrain from panic buying of fuels and unnecessary LPG bookings. Citizens are encouraged to utilize digital channels for booking LPG cylinders and to limit visits to LPG distributors unless absolutely necessary, the statement concluded.