With the temperature plummeting in the region, the demand of LPG has shot up in the city leading to its acute shortage.

Consumers in the city are up in arms over the delay in the supply of LPG. Surinder Dhawan, a consumer, said, “I receive LPG supply from two gas agencies. But both are supplying LPG cylinders late by 3 to 5 days.” Aruna Dhand, a homemaker, said, “I have been waiting for my LPG cylinder for the last five five days. Today again I called up the gas agency but only got an assurance of LPG supply by tomorrow.”

Harsimranjeet Kaur, president of All India LPG Distributors’ Federation, said, “The supply is late by about three days at Jalandhar. But in Ludhiana the delay is longer.”

She said that because of the winter season, demand for LPG has almost doubled.

Naveen Talwar, senior vice-president of All India LPG Distributor Federation (North West region) admitted that the consumers were indeed facing problems. “The LPG shortage is there. But it is due to increased demand because of the dip in the temperature. Judicious use can be helpful in timely supply of LPG.”

He lamented that people used domestic LPG for running gas geysers and vehicles which, he said should be avoided. “Some gas agencies however are still supplying the cooking gas on time. But some are taking one to five days more than usual time taken for its delivery.”

As per the official figure, last year, Ludhiana alone recorded a sale of about 1.50 lakh gas-geysers. And during winter the demand of LPG for gas-geysers is estimated to reach between 3 to 4 lakh cylinders per month in the city.