Domestic gas consumers in Banka and neighbouring areas can now breathe easy. The Indian Oil Company would soon set up a bottling plant to address the problem of timely distribution of cylinders.

The proposed site at Masudanpur under jurisdiction of the Barahat police station would also help consumers at Deoghar in Jharkhand. The usual waiting time for consumers in the region is about a month or a month-and-a-half.

At present, cylinders in the region are supplied from Barauni, around 200km away.

The average demand of cylinders in the households here is around one per month. Tripti Sinha, homemaker in Banka said: “The proposed bottling plant would help, as we have to wait a long time for the cylinders to arrive.”

Manjesh Kumar Singh, a farmer in Bhagalpur, said: “We have been told that LPG cylinders come from distant places and hence we have to wait. After the bottling plant becomes operational, I hope we get the cylinders earlier.”

On June 11, the company handed over Rs 3.62 crore to the Banka district administration to acquire land.

The plant with a capacity to refill around 22,000 bottles daily would be set up on 29.74 acres. Sources added that the initial expenditure would be nearly Rs 100 crore.

Bhagalpur divisional commissioner Minaz Alam said the shortage of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) cylinders in the district, too, would be countered after the plant is set up.

Sources, however, said the firm would have to provide Rs 1 crore and the process of land acquisition has been already initiated. The district administration has assured the company of handing over the plot by October 2013.

Pushkar Anand, sales officer, Indian Oil Company, eastern Bihar said: “The plant would start functioning by 2015. After it starts operations, consumers in Banka, Bhagalpur, Munger, Lakhisarai, Jamui, Purnea and Deoghar in Jharkhand would be benefited.”