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Informist, Monday, Mar. 23, 2026

NEW DELHI – The central government has asked states to prioritise allocation of commercial liquefied petroleum gas to eateries, industrial canteens, subsidised canteens, community kitchens, and migrant workers through the five kilogram free trade LPG cylinders, a government official said here Monday.

Briefing the media on the situation arising out of West Asia conflict, Sujata Sharma, joint secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, said that the state and Union territory governments have 50% of the commercial LPG quota at their disposal, which they can allot as per their priorities. 

"There was news that migrant workers are facing difficulties. Therefore, this provision of 5 kg cylinders has been made to give relief to migrant workers. These cylinders have been placed at the disposal of state governments. They can prioritise and give them to the people," Sharma said.  

On the issue of shortage of fuel, she said all petrol pumps are functioning normally and no dry-out has been reported at any LPG distributorship. She said panic booking has come down significantly. "From 8.8 million LPG cylinder refill bookings a day, we are down to five million bookings now, which is normal," Sharma said.

The senior official brushed aside "speculations" that there were plans to reduce the LPG quantity in the domestic cylinder to 10 kilogram from the current 14 kilogram. "This is highly speculative and there cannot be any comment or explanation to any speculation. Please don't believe in rumours," she said.

In response to a media query whether India was open to buying oil and gas from Iran, Sharma said, "These are all techno-commercial decisions taken by the oil marketing companies." 

The senior official said that the central government officials were in constant touch with states to curb black-marketing of LPG. In the past few days, 37,000 raids have been conducted, 550 FIRs lodged, and 150 persons arrested, she said. Oil marketing companies also did surprise inspections and served show-cause notices on 234 LPG distributors for irregularities. Some have been suspended and penalised too.

Aseem Mahajan, additional secretary (Gulf), Ministry of External Affairs, said that the overall flight situation in the region is improving with 95 flights expected to operate from the United Arab Emirates to India on Monday. Around 375,000 Indians have returned safely since Feb. 28. In response to a media query, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that all Indian nationals living in Israel are safe. "There was news of one Indian getting injured. Our embassy is in touch with that person and he is safe," Jaiswal said.

Rajesh Kumar Sinha, special secretary, Ministry of Shipping, said that 600 Indian sailors on 22 Indian ships stranded in the Persian Gulf are safe. He said that the crew has had no shortage of drinking water or food. He said there is no container shortage so far, and the Chennai port has allocated 40,000 sq metre area as backup for cargo management.

Sinha said that there has been "some movement" of two vessels carrying 90,000 tonnes of LPG to India from the Persian Gulf. "I will share the precise details about these ships tomorrow (Tuesday)," he said.  End

Reported by Asim Khan

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

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