ARINDAM GANGULY, OP
Bhubaneswar: In a sweeping move, the state government Sunday banned open sale and refilling of 5kg LPG cylinders, while making e-KYC mandatory for any LPG refills.
The decision comes amid concerns over supply disruptions linked to the West Asia crisis and a spike in illegal LPG trade across the state.
Announcing the policy shift, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare (FS&CW) Minister Krushna Chandra Patra said the government is moving toward a tightly regulated distribution system.
Under the new rules, all consumers must complete e-KYC verification, and LPG refills will be supplied only through authorised distributors against registered connections.
The government has already imposed refill limits: urban households can now book one cylinder every 25 days, while rural households are restricted to one refill every 45 days.
Officials said the 5kg cylinders were widely misused for unauthorised refilling and resale at inflated prices.
“This step is necessary to plug leakages and ensure fair distribution,” a senior official said.
Statewide enforcement has already begun, with over 100 cylinders seized in recent raids across districts such as Angul and Gajapati.
However, the sudden ban has triggered widespread concern among migrant workers, students, and tenants—many of whom banked upon the smaller cylinders due to a lack of permanent addresses.
“I live in a single room, and I don’t have documents for a 14.2kg connection.
The 5kg cylinder was my only option.
Now, I don’t know how I will cook my food. Most of the restaurants are charging high prices, while some of them have already been shut,” said Ramesh Mahakul, working in a private company in Bhubaneswar and staying in a PG accommodation.
Students, too, are going to feel the pinch of the new decision. “We used to cook simple meals at night. Now, we survive on bread or curd rice.
You can’t study on an empty stomach,” said Abhishek Mohanty, a college student. No curbs at the national level. There is no restriction on the sale of small 5kg LPG cylinders at the national level, with about 6.6 lakh bottles sold since March 23.
Unlike the subsidised domestic 14.2-kg cylinders, the 5kg bottles, called FTL cylinders, are priced at market rates and do not require any address proof for procurement from a nearby LPG distributorship.
