The Meghalaya Government has stepped up its pitch to the Centre seeking a substantial relaxation of the existing cap on commercial LPG cylinder supplies, flagging mounting stress on the State’s tourism-driven economy and hospitality sector due to constrained availability. Due to supply constraints arising from West Asia tensions, several Indian states have capped commercial LPG cylinder supplies, a move that has begun to ripple through service-dependent sectors.
Articulating the State’s concerns, Methodius Dkhar, who holds the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs portfolio, underscored that Meghalaya’s economic ecosystem remains significantly dependent on tourism and allied services, making uninterrupted fuel supply a critical operational requirement for hotels, restaurants and guest houses.
“As of now, there are still shortage of commercial cylinders at the restaurant or hotels but the situation is little bit improving and whatever action needs to be taken from our side also from my side, from the department side also requesting centre to increase the supply of LPG. Since Meghalaya is a tourist place, we are also depending of tourism and hospitality industry, with have urged centre to reconsider about the supply cap to increase the supply cap from 20 percent to 50 to 60 percent,” he said.
The Minister pointed to the structural impact of the cap, noting that supply levels have been sharply curtailed compared to earlier norms, directly translating into shortages in the commercial segment. “it’s true that there is some there is some shortage and because of the cap supply that we are having. Previously if we need 100 numbers of cylinder, they we got 100 but as of now there is a cap supply of 20 percent. So if there is a requirement of 100 cylinders, we will be getting 20 percent of that. So basically there is some shortage in the Commercial cylinder. So regarding the cap supply that has been put in place by the home ministry, from our department and my side, I had personally written a letter to our Union Minister to increase the cap supply, that they have given to the states,” he said.
While indicating a marginal easing in supply over the past few days, he maintained that the inflow remains below normal levels. “So lately like the yesterday and day before Yesterday we are getting better supply in terms of commercial cylinders. But we are not getting same supply that we normally gets, but the situation has improved abit in comercial LPG cylinders as well as in case of domestic Cylinder,” he added.
The shortage has had a cascading effect on the hospitality sector, with several establishments reportedly forced to suspend kitchen operations and deal with booking cancellations. Responding to these concerns, the Minister said, “see that is understandable, because all these while we had surplus supply, so hotels or resturants , whatever they demand, they were getting. Infact they were getting more than what they need. But at this point of time because of the cap supply of 20 percent we are having, so some of the hotels and some of the restaurants they are facing some shortage and from my side also and from the food and civil supplies department also we have written to the centre and as of now we are getting little bit more than what we were getting earlier. We are hopeful to able to supply more this time compared to whatever we received two three weeks back. All these while also since the situation has not arise, the regulation or putting the system in place was not ready but now even from IOCL they have put some vigilant team. And we also from here we have constituted two committees one at the level of Chief Secretary and in the district we have committee headed by District Administration. So these Committees are also supervising so that there is no black marketting.”
On domestic LPG availability, the Minister clarified that while outright shortages have been averted, the earlier surplus cushion has disappeared, leading to tighter distribution norms. “Domestic Cylinder – there is no shortage, but yes, there is no surplus as well. In the normal time we have some Surplus, whatever the distributor demands we are getting, but as of now we don’t have the surplus but we are not having shortages as well, we have sufficient but unlike the normal times. People might find a little bit inconvenience sometime in getting domestic Cylinder as per their requirement. Because in normal time whatever you demand you are getting. But now there are some restrictions and there is some system also that been putting in our own place, thet you’ll be getting your cylinder as per the routine only. This is done to streamline the process so that there will be no chaos and there’ll be no excess supply to a particular Person or particular individual,” he said.
