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Jalandhar: Despite the Central government’s assurance of “uninterrupted supply” of LPG to households, concerns keep growing in different parts of India as consumers face hurdles in booking cylinders.

Panic has set in across several states, with people queuing up at gas supply agencies after failing to book a cylinder through other means.

Such an ordeal turned tragic for a 66-year-old man as he died of cardiac arrest while waiting in a long queue at Sehna village in Punjab’s Barnala district on Friday.

The man, identified as Bhushan Kumar Mittal, had reached the gas agency at 7.15 am to join the queue. He collapsed around 8 am, just before the agency was scheduled to open, police said.

People had started standing in the queue since 6 am. Mittal was 25th in the queue which had swelled to over 120 people by the time he collapsed, Sehna station house officer (SHO) Renu informed.

According to the SHO, a disruption in the supply chain is triggering panic booking and hoarding. As a result, the common man is turning up in front of the supply points in the hope of bypassing the wait for home delivery.

Raman Mittal, nephew of the deceased, said his uncle ran a small grocery shop and the family has been struggling financially.

According to Raman, his uncle had been waiting for nearly 40 minutes before he collapsed. “Local shortages led to this tragedy,” he said.

Mittal is survived by his wife and a married daughter.