Bhubaneswar: Cracking a whip on illegal LPG hoarding and black marketing, officials from Odisha’s Food Supplies & Consumer Welfare Department raided on a residential house near Ganesh Mandap in Jharpada area of Bhubaneswar on Wednesday.
Around 120 LPG cylinders of various gas companies, including around 16 commercial and over 100 domestic ones, were seized. It is alleged that these were being diverted and sold at highly inflated prices of Rs 4,000–5,000 each in the black market. The trader operating the illegal setup is currently absconding.
“The raid was conducted following a tip-off. The person who was hoarded the cylinders missing and we have completed formalities using his mother’s signature. The cylinders will be returned to the gas depots,” an official told the media.
The storage of such a large number of cylinders in a congested residential neighbourhood raised serious safety alarms. Authorities described the conditions as highly unsafe, with the risk of fire or explosion endangering nearby residents. Similar concerns have surfaced in recent incidents, including a major fire in Kalinga Nagar area a few days earlier, where one person was injured after at least five cylinders exploded during illicit refilling.
This raid forms part of a broader enforcement drive across Bhubaneswar and Odisha amid panic buying and hoarding triggered by geopolitical tensions in West Asia, particularly concerns over potential disruptions to LPG imports through key routes like the Strait of Hormuz.
Earlier actions in the city include the seizure of 94 cylinders from unauthorised godowns in Chandrasekharpur and additional cylinders in nearby localities like Niladri Vihar, bringing the two-day total in mid-March to over 130.
