National
West Asia War: TN CM Stalin Urges PM Modi on LPG Supply, Tamil Safety Abroad
Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Wednesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighting urgent issues affecting the state and Tamils residing in West Asia amid the ongoing tensions in the region.
In a post on X, Stalin said he urged the Centre to take immediate steps to ensure uninterrupted LPG supply for domestic, commercial and industrial consumers in Tamil Nadu in view of the ongoing situation in West Asia.
CM Stalin also sought urgent measures to ensure the safety of Tamils stranded in the region, requesting facilitation of transit visas, coordinated evacuation efforts and additional flights for their safe return.
Stalin further said he has written to Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri regarding natural gas allocation for power plants.
He requested the Centre to revisit the methodology under the Natural Gas (Supply Regulation) Order, 2026, to ensure adequate gas availability for power plants to meet the upcoming summer peak power demand in the state.
The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister added that our MPs will hand over these letters in person to the concerned Union Ministers. We look forward to swift action from the Government of India.
The Central government has invoked the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, to regulate the supply, availability and distribution of petroleum, petroleum products and natural gas, including LNG and re-gasified LNG, ensuring critical sectors receive priority supply.
According to the order, the supply of natural gas to certain sectors shall be treated as priority allocation and shall be maintained subject to operational availability to one hundred per cent. of their average past six-month gas consumption. These sectors include: Domestic Piped Natural Gas supply; Compressed Natural Gas for transport; LPG production, including LPG shrinkage requirements; Pipeline compressor fuel and other essential pipeline operational requirements.
The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has prioritised domestic LPG supply to households and ordered oil refineries to increase LPG production. It has formed a committee of three Executive Directors of Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) to review requests from restaurants, hotels and other commercial users.