Watch Video: Oppn MPs protest in Parliament House complex over ‘LPG supply crunch’ – ‘empty cylinders, empty promise’

Watch Video: Several Opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) staged a protest at Parliament House on 25 March over a reported LPG supply crunch.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, NCP(SP)’s Supriya Sule, SP’s Dharmendra Yadav, CPI-ML’s Sudama Prasad, DMK’s T Sumathy, JMM’S Mahua Maji, among others, participated in the protest near the Makar Dwar of Parliament.

Carrying a banner stating ‘Empty Cylinders, Empty Promises’, the MPs raised slogans against the government.

The reported LPG crunch comes amid the conflict in West Asia, following which the government has prioritised allocating domestically produced natural gas to the LPG, compressed natural gas (CNG), and piped cooking gas sectors.

The government has stepped up efforts to streamline gas distribution and ease supply pressures, directing faster processing of city gas projects while increasing allocations of commercial LPG to key sectors amid a challenging geopolitical environment.

Sujata Sharma, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, said on Tuesday during an inter-ministerial briefing that the Centre has “sufficient stock of petrol and diesel”

“Domestic production of LPG has been stepped up in refineries,” Sharma said. “7,500 commercial and domestic PNG connections were accorded yesterday,” she added.

Sharma said that there was “some panic booking for LPG observed yesterday”, however, there is “no dry out reported at any of the distributors”.

“7,000 tonnes of commercial LPG were lifted yesterday,” she said.

In the same press conference, Rajesh Kumar Sinha, Special Secretary, Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, said that with Jag Vasant and Pine Gas having crossed the Strait of Hormuz, there are twenty ships operating in the region.

“20 Indian-flagged vessels are currently in the Western Part of the Strait of Hormuz. Of these, 5 are loaded with LPG, cumulatively, carrying 2.32 lakh metric tonnes,” Sinha said.

The conflict in West Asia is in its fourth week, disrupting trade routes through the Strait of Hormuz. Tensions escalated following the killing of 86-year-old Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in joint military strikes by the US and Israel on 28 February.

In retaliation, Iran targeted Israeli and US assets across several Gulf countries, causing further disruptions to the waterway and impacting international energy markets as well as global economic stability.