LPG portability, 5 kg cylinders available at petrol stations now

Cooking gas (LPG) is now be available at selective petrol pumps in metro cities as the oil ministry has allowed sale of small 5-kg cylinders at retail outlets. Consumers can also opt for the distributor of their choice within a cluster of LPG distributors in the vicinity and across the oil companies from Saturday.

The ministry of petroleum and natural gas on Saturday launched two new consumer empowering initiatives. A novel scheme of sale of 5 kg LPG cylinders at market price with minimal documentation through Company Owned Retail Outlets (Petrol Stations) and the Inter-Company LPG Portability scheme for consumers was launched by Oil minister M Veerappa Moily in Bangalore and by minister of state Panabaka Lakshmi in Chennai.

LPG 5 kg cylinders will now be available at company-owned-company-operated (COCO) petrol pumps, which make up for just 3 per cent of over 47,000 petrol pumps in the country.

However, they will be priced at market rate which is more than double the subsidised price of Rs 410 per 14.2 kg cylinder in Delhi. Initially, LPG cylinder sale will be restricted to COCO petrol pumps in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru.

Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum together have 1,440 COCO pumps all over the country. The number of outlets in the five cities initially chosen for launch of the scheme would be a few dozen.

‘This will be a boon to migratory population such as students, IT professionals, BPO employees and persons with odd duty timings as it would provide them the flexibility to pick up cylinders and obtain subsequent refills at time of their choice as petrol stations are open for longer hours,’ the statement said.

In another initiative, the ministry has allowed inter- company LPG portability. The scheme would be available in 30 cities. ‘Consumers will be able to see the service ratings of all the distributors in their cluster and choose the one they want based on service levels,’ said an official statement.