Domestic LPG cylinders to have radio chips

To curb the diversion of domestic LPG cylinders for the commercial purpose, the government has come out with a unique solution. Presently, domestic LPG costs Rs 348.89 less than the cylinders meant for commercial use and this difference often leads them into restaurants and hotels that are supposed to use only industrial LPG. This means loss not only to the government, but also to the consumers who have to wait for their cylinders as quite often the oil companies run out of stocks for domestic purpose.

Now, the Petroleum Ministry has decided to tag cylinders with radio frequency ID (RFID) chips. This will help track the movement of each cylinder from the time it leaves the filling station and returns for a refill. Indian Oil Corp has already conducted two successful trial runs for tagging LPG cylinders with radio frequency chips, while Bharat Petroleum has carried a trial run at its Pune plant. Hindustan Petroleum has done the same at its Nasik plant

All cylinders will be tagged with a unique number and consumers will be issued smart cards. Every time a refill is delivered, the unique number would be stored on the smart cards. All this information will be accessible to oil firms who would bottle LPG only in those cylinders, which had actually been used in some household.

Moreover, oil companies have already colour differentiated the domestic use cylinders from those meant for non-domestic usage -- red is the colour of 14.2-kg cylinder meant for household use and oxford blue would be the colour for 19-kg commercial cylinder.

Apart from these measures, oil companies have also decided to eliminate multiple connections in one household and stop supply of subsidized gas to places having piped natural gas supply.