Dehradun district has been facing about 50 per cent shortage of supply of lPG cylinders from the oil companies for the last many days, said Dehradun Food and Civil Supply officer Shyam Arya on Friday while Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) Deputy Manager Dhirendra Kumar said that there is no short supply of cylinders to Uttarakhand as IOC used to supply around 55 truckloads to Uttarakhand every day in the past and more than 50 truckloads are being supplied daily for the last one week.
Despite cold mornings, customers were seen standing in queues at various gas agencies for procuring lPG cylinders. Kumar further said that around 55 truckloads of lPG cylinders were being supplied from Kashipur, Haldwani and Haridwar bottling plants for Uttarakhand in the past. But after expiry of contract with transport company, trucks are not transporting cylinders from Haridwar bottling plant which has created backlogs in various gas agencies of Garhwal region.
As of now, between 50 to 55 truckloads of lPG cylinders are supplied from Karnal (Haryana), Kashipur and Haldwani on daily basis to Uttarakhand for the last one week. In the last year till January 17, the IOC had supplied around 3.80 lakh cylinders to Uttarakhand and this year during same period, around 3.90 lakh cylinders were supplied. This year the company had supplied 55 truckloads on January 13 to Uttarakhand, 59 truckloads on January 14, 55 on January 16 and 53 on January 17. However, the gas agency officials said that there is a backlog of around 15, 000 cylinders in Garhwal region and IOC supply has been 60 per cent less than demand for the last two weeks. Agencies are receiving one truckload once in three or four days.