Dealers say 96-hour LPG delivery deadline difficult to meet | Pune News
Pune: The district administration’s directive to LPG dealerships to deliver cylinders within 96 hours of booking is not being met as agencies continue to face a large backlog of pending orders, along with reduced supply from oil marketing companies (OMCs) and shortages of imported LPG, officials said on Thursday.A senior district administration official told TOI that dealerships have informed authorities they are unable to meet the four-day deadline due to heavy pendency and limited supply. “We had told LPG dealerships that cylinders should be delivered within 96 hours, but they are saying they are not able to do so. There is a backlog and too many bookings coming at the same time, so another review meeting has been called,” the official said.
The official said the administration has asked agencies to increase manpower and speed up distribution, but supply constraints remain a concern.According to information shared recently, one city dealership alone had around 6,000 pending bookings while receiving and delivering about 1,200 cylinders per day, making it difficult to clear the queue quickly. Officials indicated that supply from OMCs has been lower than usual, with inputs suggesting that availability of LPG from imports has also been affected, leading to slower replenishment at the dealership level.However, Pune district collector Jitendra Dudi said, “All dealers have been directed to clear the backlog within the next two days. We are supporting dealerships in every possible way to increase deliveries. The 96-hour deadline for cylinder delivery has to be met, and there will be no negotiation on this condition.”City-based LPG dealers disagreed, and said that the 96-hour deadline is not practical. One dealer said agencies are first trying to clear old bookings before taking up new ones.“It is not possible or feasible right now. We are pushing very hard and putting in extra effort because if we don’t clear this backlog, we will be in a bigger problem very soon. In the last two days, most of us in the market have focused on clearing old pending bookings first. People are complaining even if deliveries are a few hours late after 96 hours, and they are filing RTIs saying the collector has ordered delivery within four days,” the dealer said.He said his own agency has over 6,000 pending bookings. “We are following a first-in, first-out system, clearing the oldest bookings first. Mine has over 6,000 pending right now. Some distributors in the market are also getting lower supply. Things should get streamlined in the next seven days, and we are trying to clear the backlog as fast as possible,” he said.Another dealer said, “Delivering within 96 hours is not possible right now as supply is still on the lower side and we have a large number of pending bookings. Once supply improves and the backlog is cleared, we can deliver within 48 hours as well, but it will take time for the system to stabilise.”
