The government plans to introduce smart trackers to curb proliferation of faulty and half-filled liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders.
Under the arrangement, marketers and the government will monitor the refill, sale and distribution of cylinders, thereby providing them with crucial data on cooking gas usage and movement.
This creates a new avenue for State agencies to crack down on cartels that endanger lives through supply of half-filled and defective cylinders.
The new strategy, announced by the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum on Monday, pins down individual LPG refill companies on culpability in case of a gas explosion at premises, unlike the present scenario where scores of unlicensed LPG refillers compete with the official 44 refillers in the business.
The unlicensed LPG refillers who operate across the country at undesignated points use branded LPG cylinders which they sneak into the market.
Each tracker, complete with mobile phone premium services capabilities, will have its individual “radio frequency identification” number, enabling the Energy Regulatory Commission to track a cylinder’s movement from the refilling station to the consumer and back.
According to a notice placed in newspapers by the Energy and Petroleum Principal Secretary’s office, “the smart cylinder project is a unique, anti-counterfeiting, marketing and digital asset control system that covers the entire distribution chain.
The tracking initiative was mooted in 2012. It seeks to curb unlicensed dealers, who have proliferated after liberalisation of the economy.
