The state chapter of All India LPG Distributors Federation (North-West Region) has demanded that number of LPG refills allowed must be fixed at a uniform number, without discrimination based on population and size of the city etc. After a convention held on Saturday, the dfederation decided to
make this appeal to the petroleum ministry.
"The refill sale ceiling limit, fixed in 2000 based on the 1991 census has become redundant in the context of the present expenses of the distributors and should be revised upwards," said secretary Manoj B Nangia.
"The ceiling should be fixed uniformly for the whole country between 15,000 to 20,000 refills a month from the 8,000 refills now. The prevalent system of having different slabs; from 15,000 refills in metros cities to 8,000 for towns below population of 10 lakh is discriminatory as operational expenses of distributors are almost the same," he added.
The convention also decided to remove state president Harsimarjeet Kaur and nominated Gurpal Singh of Dhuri Gas service, an Indane distributor in Sangrur, as the new state president. Varinder Kaushal of Sumitra Gas Service, a HP gas distributor from Khanna, has been appointed the state secretary.
The federation welcomed the petroleum ministry's decision to keep the appointment of new LPG distributors in abeyance. The ministry had invited proposals for almost 500 new dealerships in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh, something that the federation interpreted as a threat to many existing distributors.