India, March 14 -- The petroleum ministry on Friday advised about six million households to switch to piped natural gas (PNG) for convenience, in a bid to avoid hassles of getting liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders amid a surge in panic bookings.

Divulging details of petrol, diesel and cooking fuel's availability in the country, Sujata Sharma, joint secretary in the petroleum ministry said: "Today, we have about 1.5 crore (15 million) domestic PNG consumers and they are getting assured supply. Apart from these 1.5 crore, there are about 60 lakh (6 million) households that are near PNG pipelines. They can very easily get PNG connections."

"This is also important, so that we can slightly reduce pressure on LPG," she added.

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