The order, issued on Tuesday under the Essential Commodities Act and titled the Natural Gas and Petroleum Products Distribution Order, 2026, directs local area gas distributors to notify households via registered or speed post where pipeline infrastructure is already in place.

If a household does not apply for a PNG connection within three months of receiving such notice, "the LPG supply to such address shall cease," the gazette notification said. Applications can be made by the lawful occupier or the owner of the premises.

The order provides one exemption: LPG supply will not be cut if the distributor issues a no-objection certificate certifying it is technically infeasible to provide a piped connection to that address.

Sujata Sharma, joint secretary in the ministry of petroleum, confirmed the order at an inter-ministerial briefing and framed it as a supply security measure. "Our import dependency for LPG is much higher than the import dependency for PNG or LNG. We produce 50% domestically as far as PNG is concerned. So, this is in the interest of nation that we shift from LPG to PNG," she said.

The compulsory switch applies only to areas that already have gas pipeline infrastructure. The government estimates that six million consumers can make the transition; 0.22 million have already done so, Sharma said.

India currently has 16.2 million domestic PNG connections - against over 332 million LPG consumers, a number that grew from 140 million in 2014, including 105.6 million poor households with subsidised connections under PM Ujjwala Yojana.

India imports over 60% of the LPG it consumes, with Qatar alone accounting for 47% of total LPG imports. Iran's strike on Qatar's Ras Laffan industrial city - in addition to continued challenges in vessels navigating the Strait of Hormuz -- has shut those supplies completely since March 18, sharpening the government's push to reduce dependence on cylinder gas.

The LPG-to-PNG directive is part of a broader notification that also mandates landowners - private individuals, government entities and housing societies - to grant right of way for gas pipeline laying, a measure aimed at removing the land access disputes and approval delays that have long hobbled pipeline expansion across the country. HT reported on that provision on Wednesday.