155 arrested for LPG black marketing
New Delhi, March 24: The Centre has constituted seven empowered groups of officials and experts to handle the fallout of the Iran war on specific sectors of the Indian economy, including oil, gas, fertilisers, supply chains, and inflation.
The empowered groups, comprising senior officials from the Prime Minister’s Office and the Cabinet Secretariat, were based on directions from Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) to review the evolving situation arising out of the ongoing West Asia conflict and assess measures to mitigate its impact on India.
The first of the seven empowered committees is focused on strategic issues, including defence, external affairs and public order, with Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri named the convenor of the panel that includes Home Secretary Govind Mohan as well as Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh.
Department of Economic Affairs Secretary Anuradha Thakur has been appointed convenor of a panel tasked with monitoring the economy, finance and supply chain-related issues, including export and import challenges.
The panel also includes Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agarwal, Financial Services Secretary M Nagaraju, Expenditure Secretary V Vualnam, Labour and Employment Secretary Vandana Gurnani, Heavy Industries Secretary Kamran Rizvi, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Secretary SCL Das, and Amardeep Singh Bhatia, secretary in charge of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.
Petroleum and Natural Gas Secretary Neeraj Mittal is the convenor for the third group of secretaries on petroleum, LNG, LPG and Energy matters, which includes the secretaries from the ministries of power, coal and mines, as well as the chiefs of ONGC, IOC and GAIL.
A group to oversee the impact of fertiliser and agriculture inputs has Fertilisers Secretary Rajat Kumar Mishra as convenor, and includes the secretaries in the Departments of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, as well as Agricultural Research and Education. CEOs of fertiliser majors have also been included in the panel to give feedback on the real-time market situation.
Consumer Affairs Secretary Nidhi Khare is the convenor of a panel on prices and essential commodities, which includes representatives from the Departments of Pharmaceuticals, Health and Family Welfare, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, and Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare.
Ports, Shipping and Waterways Secretary Vijay Kumar is the convenor of an empowered group tasked with transport and logistics-related issues, which includes Civil Aviation Secretary Samir Kumar Sinha, Road Transport and Highways Secretary V Umashankar, and Railway Board chairman and CEO Satish Kumar.
A seventh panel on information, communication and public engagements is convened by Information and Broadcasting Secretary Sanjay Jaju, and includes senior officials from the ministries of petroleum and natural gas, fertilisers, shipping, consumer affairs and external affairs.
The broad terms of reference of the empowered groups include the assessment of risks to energy supplies and pricing, and measures to tackle supply disruptions. Monitoring domestic availability and price stability of essential commodities is also included in the list.
Enforcement actions continue across states to curb hoarding and black marketing of LPG, and so far, about 642 FIRs have been registered and around 155 people arrested, the government said on Tuesday.
As part of the enforcement actions, about 3,400 raids were conducted, and around 1,000 cylinders were seized in the past 24 hours.
Major actions were reported in Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Telangana. PSU Oil Marketing Companies conducted more than 1,500 surprise inspections at retail outlets and LPG distributorships on Monday, according to the inter-ministerial briefing on recent developments in West Asia.
The Petroleum Ministry said that all retail outlets are operating normally across the country.
“Panic buying was reported in some areas due to some rumours, resulting in unusually high sales and crowding at retail outlets. The government has advised the public not to believe rumours and reiterated that adequate stocks of petrol and diesel are available across the country,” according to the ministry.
Moreover, priority sectors continue to receive protected supplies, including 100 per cent supply to domestic PNG and CNG transport, while supplies to industrial and commercial consumers connected to the grid are being maintained at around 80 per cent of their average consumption.
City Gas Distribution (CGD) entities have been advised to prioritise PNG connections for commercial establishments such as hotels, restaurants and canteens.
“Over 7,500 domestic and commercial PNG connections were issued or activated yesterday (Monday) in the top 110 geographical areas,” said the ministry.
Meanwhile, 24 States/UTs have issued orders to allocate the Non-domestic LPG in line with the guidelines issued by the government.
For the rest of the States/UTs, PSU Oil Marketing companies are releasing Commercial LPG cylinders.
A total of around 18,784 MT LPG has been uplifted since March 14 by commercial entities in the States/UTs, informed the ministry.
An additional allocation of 48,000 KL of kerosene has been provided to States and UTs, which have been requested to identify district-level distribution points.
