New Delhi, Sep 18: Households using both PNG (piped natural gas) and LPG (liquified petroleum gas) connections will now risk losing both connections, if they do not "voluntarily" surrender their LPG connection, a senior official of a state-owned oil company has said.
All major cities such as Delhi-National Capital Region, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Surat, Vaodara, Kanpur and Lucknow provide PNG to households. There are plans to cover 200 more cities by 2015, the official said.
Several families keep LPG cylinders with them as a backup in case PNG supply stops, though the latter is cheaper. In such a case, the official said, households should buy LPG cylinder at the market rate of Rs 780 instead of taking subsidized cylinder at Rs 400.
All the three major state-owned oil companies have now begun a thorough check of consumers having more than one LPG connections in their names. A law providing for strict penalties is in the offing to check such multiple connections, and it may soon become a legal offence, the official said.
"Even influential people and VIPs, including ministers, MPs and other dignitaries, will not be spared. A list has been drawn to monitor their usage", the official told Hindustan Times.
"Many ministers and MPs have agreed in principle to surrender their extra LPG connections", the official added.
