Gangtok hit with inadequate supply of LPG cylinders

Gangtok, May 6 (PTI) East District Collector D Anandan has issued strict directions to the concerned authorities to ensure uninterrupted and adequate supply of LPG cylinders to consumers in the district. This was in response to complaints reaching his office that refills for domestic LPG cylinders were becoming hard to obtain. The DC convened an emergency meeting today with representatives of the LPG distributors, officials of the IOC, Food and Civil Supplies Department and members of the Sikkim Hotels and Restaurants Association. The meeting was convened to ascertain the reasons behind the shortage of LPG refills in the recent weeks and came to the conclusion that this was a �temporary shortage� was caused due to the three-day shutdown of the LPG plant at Rangpo because of the West Bengal elections and observation of fire safety week by the IOC. The DC urged the IOC officials to maintain buffer stocks for uninterrupted supply even if supplies to the plant were hit by disruptions. In this context, the IOC officials assured the DC that a new unit, with capacity to stock 23,000 cylinders, will be made operational immediately. The DC also asked hoteliers and restaurant owners to use only commercial cylinders. Warning them of strict action as per the norms, the DC announced that raids will be conducted to ensure that only commercial cylinders were used in the commercial For this, the Meanwhile, the DC has appealed to the consumers not to panic as the supply will normalise within few days, Sub-Divisional Magistrate [Gangtok], AB Karki, who attended the meeting said.