Mountain of backlog

Putting an end to the week-long LPG shortage crisis across Central Kerala, the Indian Oil Corporation’s LPG bottling plant at Udayamperoor resumed operations on Wednesday. Though the plant is reopened, it will need at least 2-3 weeks to clear the backlog, said the officials. This would mean the plant would have to operate on holidays also.

Operations of the plant were resumed by Wednesday evening from the second shift, after receiving clearance from the office of Deputy Chief Controller of Explosives at Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) in Kochi.

The re-opening of the plant has come as a major relief to consumers.

Following a gas leak from an LPG bullet truck on September 10, the Udayamperoor plant had been asked to shut down by the director, Factories and Boilers, state government and the Explosives Department in Kochi.

Clearance

 Based on the safety compliance that the Indian Oil Corporation submitted, the Director Factories & Boilers had cleared the plant for operations from September 14. However, the operations could not be resumed as clearance from the Explosives Department was pending. After inspection by the Explosives Department officials on Tuesday, permission was granted on Wednesday to start the plant operations.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the IOC said currently adequate bulk LPG stock is available at the plant for bottling operations.

“The Indian Oil team is making every effort to maximise supplies and reduce backlog by working through the weekend including holidays.

It is also persuading the bulk LPG transporters to place their trucks for moving bulk LPG from Kochi and Mangalore so that bulk supplies are not affected for continued operations of the bottling plant,” the release said.

Safety First

All adequate safety measures are being ensured for safe operations of the plant to bottle LPG cylinders and efforts are also underway to clear the backlog post resumption of operations at the Kochi bottling plant, added the communication from V Vetriselvakumar of IOC.

Severe LPG Shortage

On Wednesday, the 10th day of the shutting down of IOC plant at Udayamperoor following security issues, the LPG shortage in central Kerala became more severe. The gas agencies were finding it increasingly difficult to supply cylinders to customers.

According to sources, around 3 lakh empty cylinders are currently held up inside and outside the plant. “About 150 load, each  containing 300 domestic cylinders are currently held up here. As many as 80 loads of commercial cylinders are also waiting to be refilled. Close to 200 lorries are waiting with empty cylinders now. Even if the plant starts operations, it would take a number of days for the distribution to be normal,” sources said.