the goan I network
MARGAO
Residents in many parts of the State have been hit by shortage of Bharat Gas LPG cylinders.
The supply has been affected due to the recent fire accident at one of the ONGC plants at Navi Mumbai’s Uran.
As a result, customers in Goa have had to wait for more than a week to get a refill, which otherwise used to take two days.
The shortage has hit only customers of Bharat Gas as the oil plant that was affected by the fire supplied tankers to Bharat Petroleum Ltd. The supply of HP gas is normal.
Company officials of Bharat Gas informed that production was delayed at the ONGC Uran plant due to the fire incident which happened in the first week of September.
Bharat Gas Territory Manager Sandip Pawar said the plant was shut down for almost eight days and therefore supply was hampered during that period.
“There was no shortage as such but in the last two to three days against the demand of 100 cylinders, we were getting around 70 per cent supply. But two days ago, the plant has been started and the supply has been restored,” Pawar said.
The territory manager allayed fears of huge backlog stating that the pendency was hardly of about two to three days.
“There might be some situation of refill delay in some pockets of Goa but it will be cleared in the next two to three days,” he said.
Meanwhile, the shortage of gas cylinders has upset the lives of residents.
“I booked a cylinder in the last week, but till date haven’t got delivery. Normally, they would deliver the cylinder within two days. If we don’t get a refill soon, I will have to make alternate arrangements,” said Reshma Naik, a homemaker from Duler, Mapusa.
A local from Assagao, Owen Braganza, who is incidentally a member of GOACAN, said he had booked an LPG cylinder with Goa Gas on August 29 but on September 11 received a message saying his booking was cancelled.
When he rushed to the agency’s office in Mapusa, he was told there was no supply of cylinders from the company.
After an argument with the management, he left the office but not before warning the staff that he will take up the matter before the consumer conciliation committee.
To Braganza’s utter surprise, the gas cylinder was delivered at his doorstep on
September 14.
Incidentally, several residents of Mapusa complained against Sadshill Baratgas for failing to deliver LPG cylinders on time.
Goa Civic and Consumer Action Network (GOACAN) Co-ordinator, Roland Martins, cautioned that during such shortage, there was always a threat of black marketeering.
“The city of Mapusa is very close to the coastal belt and there is every possibility that cylinders to genuine consumers may make way to other areas for a price,” Martins said.
He wondered whether the company officials had made an effort to contact the Director of Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs about the shortage.
Attempts to contact the Director of Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs, Sandhya Kamat, were unsuccessful.
