The demand of commercial cylinders in Dehradun district is around 10-15 per cent of total commercial connections procured by the owners of commercial establishments from the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), said Doon lPG Distributors’ Association (DlPGDA) president and Valley Gas Agency owner Chamanlal on Saturday.
As per guidelines, gas agencies will have to sell at least 250 commercial cylinders per month. Statistics revealed that due to short demand of commercial cylinders by the owners of commercial establishments, agencies in Dehradun are only able to sell 10 to 15 per cent of total commercial cylinders provided by the IOC. This resulted in loss of revenue to the agencies.
Chamanlal said, “The owners of restaurants, hotels and other commercial establishments have procured connection of commercial cylinders from their local agencies to use it for commercial purpose but they hardly purchase such cylinders from the agencies. The demand of the commercial cylinders is not appreciable in comparison to connections procured from the agencies.” In view of this, District Food and Civil Supply officer Shyam Arya was informed in several meetings but he is yet to take action against the commercial consumers.
Meanwhile, there has been marginal increase in black marketing of cooking gas in the city. The use of cooking gas in commercial establishments can easily be seen at many places in the city but on the other hand, the DSO Arya has failed to put check on black marketing of cooking gas in the district.
The IOC Dehradun area manager, VK Sundriyal said, “There is no short supply of cylinders in Dehradun from Haridwar bottling plant. Consumers are provided their cylinder through home delivery system within three or four days of booking. As per the demands made by the agencies, commercial cylinders are supplied. The district administration may take measures putting check on black marketing of cooking gas.”
A data received from Dehradun district Food and Civil Supply department revealed that around 7,300 customers have procured commercial connections in 37 different gas agencies.