TDP MPs meet Oil Minister

New Delhi: A delegation of TDP MPs on Thursday met Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan with the allegation that guidelines of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas have been violated for appointing new LPG distributors in Andhra Pradesh and demanded and end to irregularities. In a representation to the Minister, they drew Pradhan`s attention to a recent advertisement for appointment of about 499 new LPG distributorships in the state.

Claiming that the Andhra Pradesh LPG (Cooking Gas) Dealers Association has termed it as "irrational", the MPs said selection of restructured locations is against public interest. "Total Andhra Pradesh as a market, the existing average refill sale per distributor is about 6600, which is below the ceiling limit and bringing in 50 per cent more distributors seems to be unreasonable," the representation added. The representation also said there are "mathematical misadventures" by oil marketing companies to arrive at more number of distributorships than required as against the restructuring policy. The delegation urged the minister to keep the advertisement in abeyance and conduct a scientific survey in customer service perspective by maintaining dealer viability. The delegation also met Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs Sarbananda Sonowal to emphasis that Andhra Pradesh was willing to bid for hosting the ensuing 39th National Games in Vijayawada.