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Uttar Pradesh has the largest number of counterfeit liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) connections among states, followed by Maharashtra, Assam and Telangana.
These connections, identified as “multiple connections” by the petroleum ministry, account for 7.2 per cent of the total registered cooking gas consumers in the country, according to the ministry’s latest data on LPG usage.
According to the ministry, India had 12.7 million “multiple LPG connections as on March 1, 2015. While all of these connections have been blocked, 173,000 of these have been surrendered by consumers. Uttar Pradesh had 1.8 million, Maharashtra 1.3 million while Assam had 999,000 fake LPG connections that were blocked.”
Of the total 12.7 million fake connections, 6.3 million were being serviced by Indian Oil Corporation, India’s largest fuel retailer, followed by 4.4 million fake connections with Bharat Petroleum Corporation and 1.9 million by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation.
“The possibility of malpractice or irregularities in subsidised domestic LPG cylinders by unscrupulous elements cannot be ruled out due to the lower retail price of subsidised LPG for domestic use as compared to the market price for commercial LPG,” Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said in response to a question asked in Parliament recently. “Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) are on their toes to prevent and take action against black marketing of cylinders.”
OMCs say in order to check black marketing, LPG cylinders are supplied to customers with proper polyvinyl chloride seal and distributors are instructed to ensure inspections are carried out while making deliveries to customers.
