The Centre on Wednesday denied reports quoting LPG dealers that the wait times for cooking-gas cylinder refills had been increased, but consumers and industry representatives in Bengal The Telegraph Online spoke to had a different tale to tell.

“Reports circulating in sections of the news and on social media about changes in LPG refill booking norms are incorrect. There is no change in LPG refill booking norms,” the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said in a statement on Wednesday.

Earlier, The Telegraph had reported that urban families with double-cylinder connections will have to wait 35 days from the date of delivery to book a refill of a 14.2kg cylinder.

Asked about the confusion, Bijan Bihari Biswas of the LPG Distributors Association in Bengal told The Telegraph Online that oil companies did change the wait time.

“For a brief period on March 24, oil companies changed their automated messages for double-booking cylinders,” Biswas said.

He explained that the booking system for LPG cylinders is automated.

“In the present guildlines, you can only book your second cylinder after 25 days from the first booking. Five days later you get a booking confirmation message with an invoice and receive a second cylinder. The companies supplying gas operate this. We cannot interfere even if we wanted to,” added Biswas.

Some consumers also said they were told about the 35-day period.

“I called to book my second cylinder and the automated message said there was a 35-day waiting period,” said Nilima Banerjee, a resident of Baranagar. “I immediately called up my vendor but they had no information about any guideline changes.”

The confusion has sparked alarm.

Lalu Das, an LPG vendor from Belgharia, said he started receiving panicked calls at around 7pm on Tuesday: “I had no prior information of the waiting time being increased, so I tried to pacify customers as much as I could.”

Meanwhile, cylinder deliveries seemed to vary from area to area.

Srijit Tarafdar, a resident of Baguihati, said he received his second booked LPG cylinder after 10 days.

“While trying to book on call, my first call got disconnected saying your request is under process. On 18 March I got the intimation that my cylinder had been booked. I received my cylinder today [Wednesday],” he said.

A resident of Salt Lake said he received his Indane cylinder in two days after the booking went through.

“Companies cannot change guidelines arbitrarily. We will get mobbed if such actions are taken,” said Biswas of the LPG Distributors Association. “ There are no formal communications between the companies and the governmental agencies. Yet we have screenshots and messages to show they really had changed the waiting time to 35 days.”

On Wednesday, all such instructions from the companies were deleted, said LPG distributors.