The Centre on Friday asked all commercial LPG consumers in major urban cities to contact their local city gas distribution network provider or their designated dealer to obtain a piped natural gas (PNG) connection to avoid facing disruptions in LPG supplies.
Peteroleum ministry official Sujata Sharma told a press conference that “supply of piped natural gas to domestic consumers and CNG is being ensured without any interruption or cuts. Given this situation, there is absolutely no need to panic.”
She pointed out that the present crisis is being created due to panic bookings. “LPG bookings surged to 75.7 lakh daily against an average of 55.7 lakh daily before the Iran war”, she said.
The ministry official said, “petrol and diesel are available in adequate quantities at all petrol pumps.. Regarding LPG, it remains a matter of concern. Despite this situation, no dry out has been reported at any of our 25,000 distributors.”
She again appealed to people not to give credence to rumours and to refrain from enganging in panic buying”.
On petrol and diesel, the official said, “India possesses a refining capacity of 258 million tonnes and we are self-sufficient in production of petrol and diesel. All our refineries are currently opertion at 100 per cent capacity or higher and the refineries hold adequate inventories of crude oil. Supply of piped natural gas to domestic consumers and CNG is being ensured without any interruptions or cuts. Hence there is absolutely no need to panic.”
Nearly five million LPG cylinders are supplied daily across India. India imports 60 pc of its LPG requirements, out of which nearly 90 pc gas passes through Strait of Hormuz.
Panic booking, hoarding and blackmarketing are the main causes behind the current LPG crisis. Many hotels and restaurants have switched to ‘bhatti’ (coal and wood fired ovens) because of disruption in supplies of commercial LPG cylinders. Long queues for LPG cylinders have been noticed in most of the cities and towns.
The current rush for LPG cylinders is being caused by baseless rumours and the tendency to hoard. Many people have this tendency to hoard two or four cylinders to avoid facing crisis. On the other hand, unscrupulous people are busy making money by selling LPG cylinders in the grey market.
The problems being faced by canteens, restaurants and hotels are genuine. Their owners cannot afford a dent in their business. The government must explore ways to help them tide over this crisis.
The commitee of three ministers headed by Home Minister Amit Shah should find out means to tackle these problems on the ground level. Presently, nobody knows when the Iran war will end.
On Friday, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar spoke to Iran’s foreign minister Syed Abbas Araghchi over phone and discussed about allowing safe passage for Indian tankers stuck in the Strait of Hormuz.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has kept all channels open as far as diplomatic efforts are concerned. This is good diplomacy. India will be utilizing its channels in the national interest. One must note that India has not raised prices of diesel and petrol despite the surge in price of international crude which has crossed $100 a barrel.
As the Iran war entered its 14th day, the conflict intensified with Israel carrying out a wave of airstrikes taregting infrastructure in Tehran and other places inside Iran.
In retaliation, Iran carried out an aerial attack on a building at the Dubai International Financial Center. The DIFC Innovation Hub building suffered damage and pieces of its facade were torn away. DIFC is an economic free zone in Dubai for banks, capital traders and wealth managers, and there are retaurants and nightclubs in the area too.
Iran’s joint military command had earlier threatened that it would now target banks and financial institutions in the Middle East, after an Israeli airstrike hit a bank in Tehran.
On Friday, US President Donald Trump gave a fresh threat to Iran. He wrote on social media: “Watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today…. Iran’s Navy is gone, their Air Force is no longer there, missiles, drones and everything else are being decimated, and their leaders have been wiped from the face of the earth… They’ve been killing innocent people all over the world for 47 years, and now I, as the 47th President of the United States of America, am killing them… What a great honor it is to do so!”
In an interview, Trump said, “I think he (Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei) is damaged, but I think he’s probably alive in some form”. There are reports that Mojtaba Khamenei is undergoing treatment for serious injuries that he suffered during the Israeli attack on February 26.
A day earlier, a statement from Mojtaba Khamenei was read out on state Iranian television in which the new supreme leader of Iran said, Iran will avenge the deaths of those killed in the attacks.
Khamenei demanded reparations from US and Israel, which, he said, imposed war on Iran. He said, the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed and ships will not be allowed to pass.
There is no doubt that Trump is under pressure because of rising crude prices. His slogan, ‘Make America Great Again’, appears to be sounding hollow after the Iran war.
Trump wants the war to end soon, but his advisers believe, it can be risky if the conflict is stopped now. Even if Iran agrees to a ceasefire, halting the conflict could be dangerous.
If Trump agrees to stop bombing of Iran after unilaterally claiming victory, global markets can heave a sigh of relief, but that will be for a short duration.
The risk of resumption of war wll remain. The reason: the present regime in Iran is angry after the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and it is raring for a fight. Iran still has stocks of nuclear fissile material, missiles and drones.
If ceasefire is declared, Iran will get a breather to regroup and it can again cause devastation. It is because of this risk that Trump is forced to continue with this war.
On its part, Israel is not at all willing to halt the conflict, because it faces its existential threat from Iran. Israel wants the war to continue till the time the entire Iranian regime is decimated.
One must note, Iran has a long experience of fighting wars, but the US does not. This is the biggest conundrum now facing both Trump and the United States.
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