Non-subsidized cylinders being diverted for commercial purposes

Non-subsidized cylinders being diverted for commercial purposesThe sales of commercial cylinders is on the decline for the past several months, and the decline might have been the result of black marketing of non-subsidized cylinders, government-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) believe.

While the growth of commercial cylinders so far this year ranged between 3 per cent and 5 per cent, it had been between 20 per cent and 25 per cent last year following the announcement of capping of six on subsidized cylinders.

A senior official from an OMC attributed the fall in sales of commercial cylinders to diversion of non-subsidized cylinders to commercial use.

Speaking on the topic, the official said, "One reason could be non-subsidized cylinders being diverted to commercial use. There is some price difference between commercial and non-subsidized cylinders, the latter being cheaper."

The official added that people were under the wrong impression that non-subsidized LPG cylinders could be used for commercial functions.

In order to tame the problem, OMCs have been blocking multiple LPG connections where chances of diversion are the maximum. The Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and the Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) recently blocked nearly 8,000 connections (roughly 4,000 each) where consumers had applied for direct benefit transfer scheme even as they possessed more than one connection.