Berhampur: Tension erupted outside a cooking gas agency at Aska in Ganjam district on Monday, as residents queued up with empty gas cylinders since early morning. Police and civil supplies officials rushed to the spot and pacified the waiting people by assuring them of resolving their problem soon.A consumer complained he could not get new LPG cylinder, even 10 days after the oil company gave the message of delivery. While the agency could not give an answer satisfactorily, they came to the depot to refill their cylinder, he said. Other consumers also have similar complaints.
Sarmista Dalabehera, marketing inspector, said the problem surfaced due to the short supply of the LPG cylinders by a particular oil company for the last two days. “This will be solved soon as I have spoken with the officials of the oil company,” she saidMeanwhile, an oil company has temporarily suspended the supply of the LPG cylinders to a distributor in Berhampur following a series of complaints against him. “It’s a serious violation of distributorship agreement and thus in order to safeguard the brand image and interest of the customers at large, supplies are suspended,” said the company.While there are 78 LPG distributors across the district, 19 of them are in Berhampur, sources said. The district administration, however, said there was no shortage of the LPG in the district. Till Sunday, the district had a stock of 19,967 domestic and 1,097 commercial LPG cylinders.Ganjam collector Keerthi Vasan V has ordered crackdown on black marketing and hoarding of cooking gas cylinders at block level.
