ANNOUNCEMENTS
With the continually shifting paradigm in the urban infrastructure, it is also necessary to come up with updated rules and regulations in every sector. India being a welfare state also adopts practices in form of different initiatives to ensure the benefit of every section of the society. In the LPG infrastructure sector, the Government launched an initiative called Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana in 2016 whose aim was to ensure the availability of LPG in the BPL household by providing them subsidies. In the light of the recent developments in the LPG infrastructure, various LPG distributors such as BPCL, HPCL etc came up with the update Marketing Discipline Guidelines (hereafter referred as MDG) in 2022 which has provisions to ensure smooth operation of LPG distribution.
But the question arises whether the rules that have been established for ensuring smooth operations have really achieved their goal? Have they really addressed the financial risks faced by the LPG distributors in the light of provisions like Target Delivery Time (hereafter referred as TDT), claiming the subsidies or unaccounted sales etc.?
This research focuses primarily upon the “cobra problems” (ie. undesired impacts and loopholes) of the MDG 2022 and to asses the financial risk faced by the BPCL distributors in the Pathankot District of Punjab (both Urban and Rural). The research is attributed with the nuanced information provided by the BPCL distributor, the delivery personnel, account officer and transport coordinator.
The research highlights how TDT impacts the ratings of the financial conditions of the BPCL distributor due to the limited supply routes and high transportation cost in delivering to the rural areas near Pathankot. It also highlights the financial losses that the distributor bears in order to provide LPG at subsidized rates to the villagers and the army area of Pathankot. In addition to the same, there are irregularities such as unaccounted sales that happen after the closing time of the distribution portals and the loss margin that has to be taken care of by the distributors. Therefore, the research paper provides a comprehensive study on the MDG 2022 and has attempted to suggest possible solutions to the rising problems while balancing the initial goal of consumer welfare.
