AGARTALA, August 22 (TIWN): The Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Public Distribution today issued caution to LPG consumers of the state and said in an official notification that the authorities wouldn’t be liable for denial of LPG cylinders to consumers who didn’t verify their blue-books.

A highly placed source in the Department today said that a large number of LPG consumers in the state are still receiving services without verified blue books. The state has been reeling under LPG crisis since the last several months, especially after the Kalagachia bottling plant at Mohanpur sub-division in West Tripura district from November, 2013. The Silchar bottlling plant is also reported to be allowing LPG cylinders for Tripura after its own rising domestic needs were fulfilled.
The state is currently reported to be running with a LPG backlog of 45 days, creating crisis in the domestic gas consumption sector, official sources said. The crisis was further aggravated by rising requirement as the festive season of Durga Puja keeps coming closer.
Sources in the Department of Food and Civil Supplies said that the Bishalgarh bottling plant is trying to cope up with the requirement by working on holidays. “We have increased working days from five to six.
The Bishalgarh bottling plant is now operational on Saturdays as well”, he said.
The backlog still continues as Bishalgarh bottling plant, which caters to LPG needs of West Tripura district, Khowai, Sepahijala, Gomati,
South Tripura and Dhalai districts, is able to generate 22-25 truckloads of refilled LPG cylinders while standard bottling capacities today stand at 80-100 trucks.
The source in the food and civil supplies department today said that LPG consumers aren’t likely to get their allotted 12 LPG cylinders a month under the present circumstances.
All registered LPG consumers of the state are currently estimated to have an average need of 2,900 MT of cooking gas on a monthly basis.Average requirement of LPG cylinders stand at 2,04326 currently. The
Bishalgarh bottling plant in Sepahijala district is currently meeting 86 percent of the requirement and the rest 16 percent was supposed to be supplied from Silchar bottling plant. The latter is reported to be having problems since January this year.