A consumer carries home a refilled LPG cylinder in Ranchi on Tuesday. Picture by Prashant Mitra

Unwilling to let her annual festive fare take a beating, Binita Gupta — a Dangratoli Chowk homemaker — booked her cooking gas cylinder with a Lalpur-based agency well in advance. A fortnight down the line, she is yet to receive the home delivery and is anticipating a kitchen crisis on Diwali.

Binita is not alone in this predicament. It is crunch time across Ranchi, given the bizarrely burgeoning list of LPG bookings, courtesy a text application introduced by Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL).

Officials at Lalpur-based Jayant Gas Agency — one of the oldest and reliable distributors of IOCL — conceded that they were still home delivering gas cylinders booked on or before October 1.

“Abhi humlog ek October ka booking deliver kar rahein hain. Ek-do din aur intezar karein (At present, we are just able to deliver refilled cylinders for bookings made within October 1. Kindly wait for a couple of days more),” a lady at the counter was overheard telling a fuming consumer who had sought home delivery in the first week of the month.

Ratu road resident Parmeshwar Kumar said they too were waiting for home delivery of LPG cylinder for the past 15 days. “We are using the existing cylinder very economically, but fear we still will run out of gas during festive preparations,” he expressed his concerns.

Ranchi has over 2.25 lakh LPG consumers, most of them Indane loyalists, serviced by IOCL. Indane has 24 distributors across the city.

On the other hand, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) have 10,000 and 5,000 consumers, respectively, and two affiliated agencies each. The office of the special officer (rationing) maintained that the demand-supply gap was plaguing IOCL alone, given its vast consumer base.

While home delivery is being subjected to inordinate delays, agencies are not denying refill if one shoulders the burden of taking an empty cylinder all the way to their premises.

Payal Mukherjee, a homemaker from Peace Road, said she had switched to cooking on stove to be on the safe side. “We had applied for refill 10 days ago, but there was no home delivery until yesterday (Monday). Finally, my father-in-law went to our nearest agency and had the cylinder refilled. I am taking no chances before Diwali,” she added.

Speaking to The Telegraph from Bokaro, IOCL’s chief area manager (LPG sales) Uday Kumar admitted that there had been a 15 per cent surge in refill demand, which was “not very normal” during this time.

“We have started SMS booking in both urban and semi-urban areas. The system, which makes applying for home delivery of LPG cylinders a tad too easy, has led to this increase in demand. Hence, there is a supply issue. Besides, Durga Puja holidays resulted in limited production and transportation delays from our Gamharia-and Bokaro-based bottling plants,” the IOCL official reasoned.

The problem, sources said, might persist for another fortnight or so. And if it does, not just traditional Diwali fare, but Chhath preparations too will take a hit.

Ranchi special officer (rationing) Ashok Kumar Singh claimed directives had been issued to all agencies associated with IOCL, HPCL and BPCL to ensure there was no disruption in LPG supply during the festive days at least.

“I will once again issue fresh instructions to these companies, if cooking gas supply is not smooth. Let me verify things first,” he offered some hope.