India reports 58,500 LPG connections surrendered as fuel stocks remain adequate

More than 58,500 PNG consumers voluntarily surrendered their LPG connections up to May 20, according to a government briefing. Officials said petrol, diesel and LPG supplies are sufficient nationwide and urged the public to avoid panic buying. Online LPG cylinder bookings reached about 99 % of industry capacity, and Delivery Authentication Code (DAC)‑based deliveries rose to roughly 96 % to curb diversion. Over the last three days, about 1.34 crore LPG cylinders were delivered against 1.32 crore bookings, with Wednesday alone seeing 47.51 lakh deliveries versus 45.36 lakh bookings. Around 1.87 lakh 5‑kg free‑trade LPG cylinders were sold in the same period. Since March, roughly 7.64 lakh PNG connections have been activated and infrastructure for an additional 2.81 lakh connections is in place, bringing total ready connections to about 10.45 lakh, while 7.99 lakh customers have registered for new connections.

The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways also reported that Indian seafarers in the Persian Gulf remain safe, with no incidents involving Indian‑flagged vessels or Indian crews in the past 72 hours. Through the Directorate General of Shipping, more than 3,316 Indian seafarers have been repatriated from the region, including 99 in the last three days.