Bihar Minister Dilip Jaiswal. File pic.
| Photo Credit: ANI
Bihar Industries Minister Dilip Jaiswal on Thursday (March 19, 2026) said that there was no shortage of LPG cylinders in the State and that the queues outside distribution outlets were a result of “misleading propaganda by the Congress”.
Speaking to reporters in Patna, Mr. Jaiswal said the claims of LPG cylinder shortage in the State are misleading. “This is a handiwork of Congress’s misleading propaganda, aimed at spreading fear in the minds of the people,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Congress staged a protest over shortage of cooking gas in the State.
Speaking to reporters here, Congress State president Rajesh Ram said, “The Union government has completely failed to provide gas cylinders to people across the country. People are forced to stand in queues for hours for LPG cylinders. They are left with no option because the availability of cooking gas is running thin.”
“When Narendra Modi initiated the PM Ujjwala Yojana in 2016, he said that he could not bear to see smoke affecting the eyes of women. Today, as he fails to convince [U.S. President] Donald Trump and the Iranian regime to resolve the crisis, the LPG mismanagement has broken the back of the people,” the Congress leader said.
Mr. Ram claimed people, especially elderly persons, have died in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh after queuing up for hours to get LPG cylinders.
“Still, the government is repeatedly saying that there is no crisis. So, let the government explain why people are being forced to stand in queues,” he said.
Another senior Congress leader, Madan Mohan Jha, said there is “desperation” among people as they are not getting LPG cylinders. “If the government claims there is no shortage at all, then what explains the long queues outside LPG distribution agencies? People are willing to pay five times the actual price of cylinders,” he added.
Published – March 19, 2026 05:32 pm IST
