Notwithstanding the government’s repeated claims of sufficient stocks of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), both domestic and commercial consumers are facing a testing time in receiving gas cylinders in Madhya Pradesh.
Amidst the crisis, consumers in Bhopal had a verbal spat with workers of a gas delivery truck in Bhopal, while irate residents staged a road blockade in Raisen district after the doors of a gas agency did not open for delivery to customers waiting in long queues since early morning on Saturday.
In Bhopal, several people were waiting for a gas delivery truck to arrive near the Dusshera Ground in the T T Nagar area. As soon as the vehicle arrived, people rushed to take delivery of gas cylinders before others.
This resulted in a tense situation, and some customers entered into verbal arguments with each other and also with the workers of the gas delivery agency.
In Raisen, hundreds of consumers had been standing in a queue since 5 am outside a gas agency on Sagar Road. When the agency did not open even by 10 am, frustrated residents placed their empty cylinders on the road and staged a blockade, bringing traffic to a halt.
After the road blockade in Raisen, SDM Manish Sharma reached the spot and reprimanded the gas agency operator, ordering the closed agency to be reopened.
Following his instructions, the staff were called to the spot and the agency was reopened immediately by unlocking the premises.
Similar scenes of panic and commotion were witnessed in several other cities of the state, including Gwalior, Jabalpur, Indore, Damoh and others.
Some hotel and eatery owners claimed they have not received commercial gas cylinders for the past five days, and consequently, they are suffering losses in business.