NewsGate Press Network

As imports of liquified petroleum gas (LPG) gets affected due to on-going Gulf conflict the central government has now announced that all domestic connections will have to mandatorily shift to piped natural gas (PNG) system.

In extreme cases where PNG is not available, only then households will be given LPG cylinders and that too after government investigations.

According to a senior officials from the Ministry of Petroleum, this government order is aimed at accelerate the expansion of natural gas thereby reducing dependence on LPG.

The Gazette Notification was issued late yesterday that on is 24th of March 2026.

It is known as Natural Gas and Petroleum Products Distribution (Through Laying, Building, Operation and Expansion of Pipelines and Other Facilities) Order, 2026 under the Essential Commodities Act.

With the war in West Asia severely hitting India’s LPG imports, the government has been appealing to consumers to switch to PNG if it is available in their vicinity to take some pressure off of LPG supplies.

Some city gas distribution (CGD) companies have also announced incentives like some volumes of free gas and waiver of connection charges to encourage consumers to sign up for PNG connections.

As per the order, LPG supply shall cease if a household does not apply for a PNG connection—despite it being available—within three months of receiving formal communication to become a PNG consumer.

Also, if the resident welfare association or the property owner fails to grant permission for city gas pipelines to be laid for the purpose of providing PNG connections, LPG supplies will stop three months after a notice is issued in this regard.

In both these scenarios, residents will be notified of this three-month countdown by their LPG distributors “either by text message or telephonically or by recorded voice message”.

LPG supplies will continue only in cases where it is technically infeasible for the authorised CGD operator to provide PNG supply; no objection certificates will be provided to consumers in such cases.

According to Petroleum Ministry Joint Secretary Sujata Sharma, there are around 60 lakh households in India that have PNG infrastructure available in their vicinity, but continue to use LPG.

She informed that so far in March, around 2.5 lakh new PNG connections—domestic and well as commercial—have been provided and 2.2 lakh LPG uses have shifted to PNG.

Sharma said that this move is intended to reduce India’s high import dependency for LPG, due to which the ongoing West Asia crisis has had such an impact on LPG supplies.

India depends on imports to meet 60% of its LPG requirement, and 90% of the imports come from West Asia via the critical chokepoint of the Strait of Hormuz, where vessel movements have all but come to a halt.

To recall, by contrast, India’s reliance on imports for natural gas is around 50%, and 55-60% of LNG imports come through the Strait of Hormuz.

Also, in the most vulnerable segment of household consumers, India has a huge LPG consumer base with 33.3 crore domestic connections.

Domestic households with PNG connections are far fewer at about 1.6 crore.

In the current scenario, priority sectors continue to receive protected natural gas supplies, including 100% supply to the household PNG and CNG for transport segments, while supplies to industrial and commercial consumers are being regulated at around 80%.