Onlykashmir.in News Desk
Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Suresh Gopi announced that the Centre has directed Oil Marketing Companies to uniformly implement a revised LPG refill booking interval of 25 days across both urban and rural areas with immediate effect, a move set to ease the wait faced by rural consumers who had been operating under a longer restriction.
In a social media post, Gopi said the relaxation had been made possible by an improvement in the country’s overall LPG supply situation and a significant reduction in the refill backlog that had built up in recent months. He said all domestic LPG consumers, irrespective of whether they reside in urban or rural areas, would now be able to book cylinder refills at a uniform interval of 25 days, effectively removing a disparity that had disadvantaged rural households.
The Minister also shared a copy of the letter issued by the Petroleum Ministry to Oil Marketing Companies directing them to implement the revised interval immediately, lending official weight to the announcement and signalling that the change was expected to take effect without delay rather than through a phased rollout.
The disparity being addressed had its roots in supply pressures triggered by the Middle East conflict, which had pushed the government to impose a 25 day booking interval in urban areas while extending the gap to 45 days in rural areas, a measure aimed at managing constrained LPG supplies during a period of heightened regional volatility. For rural households, many of whom depend heavily on subsidised domestic LPG connections under government welfare schemes, the longer interval had meant extended waits and, in some cases, a return to alternative cooking fuels while awaiting their turn.
With supply conditions now said to have stabilised and backlogs easing, the government’s decision to restore parity between urban and rural booking cycles is likely to be welcomed particularly in states with large rural consumer bases, where the extended interval had drawn periodic complaints. The move also reflects the broader sensitivity around LPG availability in India, where cooking gas access remains a politically significant welfare indicator tied closely to schemes aimed at expanding clean cooking fuel access across the country.
Oil Marketing Companies are now expected to update their booking systems to reflect the uniform 25 day cycle, allowing rural consumers to book refills at the same frequency as their urban counterparts going forward.
