New Delhi: “Online gas bookings are not working. Agencies are not accepting offline bookings. I’ve been without [cooking] gas at home for two days. Tell me, what should I feed my children?” asks Seema, a resident of Dakshinpuri (Dr Ambedkar Nagar) in South Delhi, who has taken leave from work to visit the gas agency for the last two days.

Seema has a card from the Indane Maheshwari Gas Agency located in Madangir. She told The Wire, “I used to call the gas booking number to order a cylinder without any issues. However, that number is now unreachable.”

Standing outside the gas agency, Seema dialled the number several times but each time, she was met with the taped response, “Please try again later.”

There might be a cylinder to purchase from informal channels, but that route is closed to Seema. Like thousands of others in the capital, she cannot afford the black market rates. “I cannot buy gas from outside at Rs 200 per kilo. I only get Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 [a month] from working all month,” she says.

Seema, a resident of Madangir in South Delhi, has been trying to get a gas cylinder for two days. Photo: The Wire.

Residents across Delhi – as in many other parts of the country right now – are desperately searching for domestic gas cylinders due to passage through the Strait of Hormuz coming virtually to a standstill after the US-Israeli attacks on Iran.

The Wire team visited several locations in South Delhi, including Saket, Hauz Rani and the busy Kalkaji area. At most gas agencies, frustrated consumers were arguing with the agency operators – some confrontations even turning violent. Agency operators tried to explain to the irate customers that they were not responsible for the situation.

Meanwhile, the Indian government has asserted, within and outside Parliament, that there is no shortage of LPG, or Liquefied Petroleum Gas, which is filled into high-pressure tanks and distributed to buyers through a network of agencies for cooking food in homes. While many agency operators toed the government line when they spoke on the record, when they spoke on condition of anonymity, they admitted a shortage exists.

Why are gas cylinders unavailable?

Until now, consumers like Seema just dialled a number to book a gas cylinder, followed the instructions to select an option, and the booking was completed. However, that mobile number they always called is currently unreachable.

A consumer waiting at Maheshwari Gas remarked, “This is the first time in five years that I have had to visit the agency to book a cylinder. I have never encountered such a problem before.”

Ashok, an employee at the agency, said, “There’s a server issue which is preventing bookings from........

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