Retail outlets selling auto liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in and around Chennai city have been witnessing long queues for the past few days. “Private bunks selling LPG are mostly closed and those have stocks are selling it close to ₹100 a kg, which is not affordable for me,” said Vijay Karthick, an autorickshaw driver.

Several bunks, including those at Injambakkam, Kilpauk, Vyasarpadi, and Avadi, belonging to State-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) are the ones seeing such queues, said sources in the oil industry.

A dealer said that some bunks belonging to OMCs were going dry due to high volume of sales. “I usually buy one load, selling around 1500 kg to 2000 kg a day. But now, with increased demand, I am selling almost 5,000 kg a day. Though LPG availability is not an issue for me, making the payment and getting the load takes a whole day when the bunk goes dry. The police is not allowing heavy vehicles during certain hours, which also leads to bunks going dry.”

Balasubramanian of the CITU Auto Thozhilalargar Sammelanam said that the government must ensure availability of auto LPG in all bunks. “There are 40,000 families dependent on LPG. They are able to get LPG only once in two days. They have to wait in queue for six hours just to fill for ₹400 to ₹500. The whole day gets wasted waiting for fuel at OMC outlets, since private gas is priced at ₹100 a kg. OMCs sell gas at ₹84.35 a kg,” he said.