With just 18 days of LPG stocks, is India prepared for prolonged Hormuz Hormuz blockade?

In this ground report, Ananya Dutta heads into the queues outside a gas agency in Delhi where people have been waiting overnight for a single cooking gas cylinder. As tensions escalate in the Middle East between the United States, Israel and Iran, disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz are beginning to ripple through global energy supply chains. India imports a majority of its LPG, and any instability along this route can quickly reach Indian kitchens. But are the long lines outside gas agencies simply panic buying, or is there a deeper supply problem unfolding? Speaking to daily wage workers, homemakers, and frustrated consumers, we capture the raw anxiety of households trying to secure something as basic as cooking fuel. Some say prices are rising, others allege irregularities in the booking system, and many are forced to choose between standing in line for hours or going to work to earn their daily wages. Meanwhile, the government insists there is no shortage of LPG in the country. So what is really happening? Is this a temporary disruption caused by the global crisis or does it reveal deeper vulnerabilities in India’s energy dependence?