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 being processed. Our website is also down.”Ashok, an employee at Maheshwari Gas Agency in Madangir, South Delhi. Photo: The Wire.Amit, at Sodhi Gas Agency in Saket, said, “The server was running at 5 am, but it went offline after 9 am.”The owner of RK Gas Agency in Hauz Rani said her team was coordinating with the head office regarding the “server issue”. “We have been informed that it is being addressed,” she said.A gas agency operator in South Delhi, speaking on condition of anonymity, said people were encountering difficulties because the entire process of booking was online. “There is no option for offline booking, so even though we have gas available, we are unable to supply it to consumers. The government has implemented this method to limit gas consumption and conserve stock,” he said.Maheshwari Gas employee Ashok said, “If we receive instructions to accept offline bookings, there will be no issues.”However, some agency operators believe that transitioning the process offline could lead to an increase in the black marketing of cylinders.Sodhi Gas Agency in Saket, South Delhi. Photo: The Wire.Why are cylinders not delivered despite booking?Sanjay Camp resident Kamala Devi, 60, booked a cylinder on March 5, but she hadn’t received it until March 11. Kamala had received a booking confirmation and DAC (Delivery Authentication Code) message.“The delivery agent told me to get a slip from the agency to get the cylinder,” she said. “When I went there, the agency refused to give me the slip.”The agent who delivers gas to Kamala Devi’s residence has stopped responding to her calls.The delivery agent who used to bring gas cylinders to Kamla Devi’s home is no longer answering her calls. Photo: The Wire.Another consumer said they had placed an order on March 5, when the price of the cylinder was Rs 878, but it has now risen to Rs 913.“The agency says the new rate will apply,” he said. “I’m willing to pay, but they are still not providing me the cylinder.”Tekaram, another customer at the gas agency, said, “I inquired with the delivery person about the reason for the delay, and he asked me to visit the agency.’ I came here, but still couldn’t get a clear answer.”A staff member at Sodhi Gas in Saket explained, “Look, the server is down, which is why we cannot issue slips. Earlier, people used to get deliveries within 3 to 4 days, but now it is taking 5 to 6 days.”Cylinder black marketingWhile consumers are struggling to get cylinders from agencies, the black market for cylinders continues to thrive. The Wire team found several shopkeepers in South Delhi willing to deliver cylinders at twice the standard price.A gas stove repair technician in Dakshinpuri was prepared to sell cylinders for Rs 1,800 (double the “new” price being reported by customers). His only condition was that the cylinders would be delivered after 8 pm.He said he had brought three cylinders directly from the warehouse that day and it had cost him Rs 4,500. He said, “You guys will keep booking, but it will not happen. The server is down. We’re getting it through the black market.’Seema, the Dakshinpuri resident, said, “These people [agencies] claim that they can’t do anything. So how is it that cylinders are available for Rs 1,800 in the black market?”Another shopkeeper The Wire team met, in Hauz Rani, said he was willing to provide “home delivery” of a gas cylinder for Rs 2,200.‘Labourers are the hardest hit’The daily wage workers, who fill their small cylinders with one or two kilograms of cooking gas are the most affected by this situation, not those who buy large cylinders from agencies or can afford black market purchases. These labourers, mostly migrants to Delhi from faraway states, don’t have agency cards – the cards that residents of Delhi possess.A shopkeeper selling these small cylinders in the Madangir Market reported being out of stock for two days. “The poor labourers are suffering,” he said. “They are my only customers. If this situation persists, they will start returning to their villages. If they don’t get to eat, how will they work?”In many areas, where people are managing to get their cylinders refilled, they are being asked to pay Rs 160 to Rs 180 per kilogram – double the usual Rs 90 to Rs 100 they used to pay.Is there a gas shortage or not?Despite the challenges consumers are facing, the Union government has repeatedly stressed that there is no shortage of domestic gas in the country.Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, during an informal discussion with the media on Wednesday (March 11), said that despite the escalating geopolitical tensions in West Asia, India’s energy supply continued uninterrupted through various sources and routes. He said:“We have implemented measures to guarantee that domestic consumers receive a full supply of CNG and PNG. In spite of the ongoing conflict, other industries are also obtaining 70 to 80% of their fuel requirements.”He also posted on X that his government was committed to ensuring uninterrupted supply of affordable energy to domestic consumers. He reiterated that there is no gas shortage for domestic users and urged the public not to panic.The problems consumers have reported with gas bookings at the ground level, delays in cylinder deliveries and complaints of black marketing in many localities of South Delhi paints a very different picture from what the government claims.If there is no shortage, why is there a sense of crisis?A report in The Hindu explains that the LPG crisis in India is not solely the result of war or supply disruptions, but has long-term structural causes.According to the report, LPG consumption in India has increased rapidly over the past decade, but no parallel plan has been made to increase strategic storage.India’s LPG imports are projected to triple between 2011-12 and 2024-25, reaching nearly 20 million tons. LPG imports meet approximately 60% of the country’s needs.India’s import dependence has risen sharply, from 47% in 2015 to nearly two-thirds now. According to the report, more than 85% of India’s LPG supply comes from the Persian Gulf, which must pass through the Strait of Hormuz to reach the country. Therefore, disruptions to this sea route immediately impact supply.India’s monthly LPG consumption is approximately 3 million tons, making it the world’s second-largest consumer. The country consumes approximately 80,000 tons of LPG daily, of which more than 85% is by domestic consumers.India has only two underground storage facilities for long-term storage, located in Mangaluru and Visakhapatnam, with a total capacity of around 1.4 lakh tonnes. This represents less than two days’ worth of storage considering the consumption.There are around 330 million LPG connections across India, of which around 100 million were added after 2017 under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PM-Ujjwala Yojana). This scheme was intended to provide clean fuel to poor families, but it has led to a sharp increase in both LPG consumption and import dependence.Regarding the Ujjwala Yojana and the current state of LPG, senior journalist Aunindyo Chakraborty wrote X that insufficient consideration was given to the source of the additional LPG requirement during planning. “This is why the attacks on Iran did not significantly impact the supply or prices of petrol and diesel, but severely affected the supply of LPG.”https://t.co/MgD5NnlHjL— Aunindyo Chakravarty (@Aunindyo2023) March 11, 2026Update to this story:Union Minister Hardeep Puri said on Thursday (March 12), in Parliament, that consumer anxiety had fuelled hoarding and panic booking – not lack of LPG supplies. Below is his full statement, and a late-night statement by his party.This article was originally published in TheWireHindi and has been translated by Naushin Rehman.