Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has issued a clarification on the availability of 5 kg LPG cylinders, reassuring students, migrant labourers, and other vulnerable consumers amid ongoing supply concerns linked to geopolitical tensions in West Asia.
“There is no restriction on 5Kg cylinders marketed by Oil Marketing Companies for migrant labours and students on production of ID proof and 5Kg domestic cylinders sold by OMCs on e-KYC. Enforcement is only on illegal cylinders and black marketing and hoarding,” it said.
This comes a day after Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Krushna Chandra Patra announced that the unauthorised sale of 5kg cylinders in the open market has been banned with immediate effect. “Open sale of these small cylinders was anyway illegal. We have directed all officials concerned to stop it from today (Sunday) onwards,” he said.
This raised fears of restricted access for hostellers, daily-wage workers, and others who rely on compact 5 kg Free Trade LPG (FTL) cylinders for cooking, as these are often sold at market rates without the address proof required for standard domestic connections. Recent data from the Union Petroleum Ministry shows strong uptake, with over 90,000 such cylinders sold in a single day and around 6.6 lakh since late March 2026.
