Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], April 4 (ANI): Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday said the country is facing a gas shortage, with people stuck in long queues.

He blamed the government's foreign policy for the crisis, noting that attention has not been paid to the issue.

The shortage comes amid the West Asia conflict triggered by US-Israel strikes on Iran on February 28 and subsequent Iranian retaliation.

Speaking to ANI in Bengaluru, Kharge said, 'There is a gas problem in the country. People are stuck in queues. It has become a big problem for everyone. The government should pay attention to it. It is not paying attention because their foreign policy is not right. Today, we are suffering because their foreign policy is not right.'

Earlier, the Karnataka Food and Civil Supplies Minister, KH Muniyappa, reiterated that there is no 'actual' shortage for domestic or public transport needs. The government directed IndianOil to ramp up daily sales (currently at 59.53 Metric Tonnes per day). It warned private distributors against black marketing and unauthorised price hikes, as well as established district-level monitoring committees to conduct raids on hoarding sites.

The Government of India on Saturday issued a strong assurance to the public, confirming the adequate availability of petrol, diesel, LPG, and PNG across the country.

Meanwhile, on Friday, Indian Oil Corp clarified that its five kg Free Trade Liquefied Petroleum Gas (FTL) cylinders are supplied continuously by the oil marketing companies to migrant labourers and adequate arrangements have been made to maintain steady availability and added that there is no disruption in supplies, the government-owned company said.

Hindustan Petroleum Corp said that it delivered a record 14,10,000 cylinders under its LPG segment from its 55 bottling plants and also supplied 27,800 free trade LPC cylinders in the 5 kg segment and 1,500 cylinders in the 2 kg segment. (ANI)