West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. File | Photo credit: ANI
Ahead of the upcoming assembly elections, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is set to lead a protest rally in Kolkata against the intensifying LGP (liquefied petroleum gas) and CNG (compressed natural gas) crisis.
The rally will begin at College Square in central Kolkata at 4 pm and end at Dorina Crossing in Esplanade on Monday (March 16, 2026). Ms Banerjee will be joined by party general secretary and second-in-command Abhishek Banerjee. “We are protesting against the harassment faced by the general public due to the skyrocketing cooking gas prices and the Centre’s hasty decisions on commercial gas supply,” read a poster announcing the rally.
On Thursday (March 12, 2026), the Trinamool Congress (TMC) leadership strongly criticized the Union government’s foreign policy decisions.
Minister of State for Finance Chandrima Bhattacharya criticized the central government’s lack of preparedness. “The war in West Asia did not start overnight. It escalated over months… The Strait of Hormuz carries 85-90% of India’s LPG imports. None of this was a secret. Yet no strategic reserves were built, no alternative supply routes activated and no emergency protocols initiated,” Ms Bhattacharya said.
She said the Center had made “false promises” to states and citizens that fuel would be routinely available and there would be no interruption in supply.
On Wednesday (March 11, 2026), Ms. Banerjee held an emergency meeting with government officials and representatives of oil marketing companies to manage the energy crisis in West Bengal. Refined gas produced at Bengal’s own refineries — Haldia, Kalyani and Durgapur — should not be exported from the state until the situation normalizes, the CM told officials.
“She has also ensured uninterrupted supply of mid-day meals, ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services) centres, hospitals and domestic consumers. All this should have been done by the Prime Minister but instead our CM has done it,” Ms Bhattacharya said of Ms Banerjee’s strategy to manage the crisis.
The minister said the demand for pressure cylinders in the state jumped from two lakh to six lakh bookings in a matter of days due to panic among people.
Trinamool MLA Tanmay Ghosh blamed the central government’s foreign policy decisions for the ongoing crisis. “This government has reduced foreign affairs to a circus… They have failed several times in foreign policy and the people of the country are bearing the brunt of it,” Mr. Ghosh said, adding that the central government is by no means “atmanirbhar” (self-sufficient).
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president Samik Bhattacharya alleged that the Trinamool was creating an artificial crisis. “The top management is holding the distributors at gunpoint to stockpile LPG cylinders,” Mr. Bhattacharya said.
Ms. Bhattacharya denied his allegations. “We ask the dealers to stop selling and they will listen to us? They are saying all this because they have no legitimate explanation to offer the citizens,” she said.
On 8 March, the Chief Minister and other Trinamool leaders staged protests against the ₹60 per bottle increase in the price of domestic cooking gas.
The crisis is deepening
Long queues formed outside gas distribution offices across the state. Autorickshaw drivers waited for hours in snaking queues to fill their tanks at CNG pumps and demanded an increase in fares. Some drivers reported waiting in lines from 4:30 a.m. only to receive half a tank of gas five hours later.
“A black market dealer in our locality sells bottles at ₹2,500 each and takes advantage of the crisis. People buy in desperation because they cannot stop eating,” a south Kolkata resident told The Hindu on Thursday (March 11, 2026).
Several government hospitals have switched to using private gas cylinders to ensure that patients receive food, while other facilities, including Suri Hospital and Rampurhat Medical College and Hospital, have reported significant shortages.
Published – 12 March 2026 21:55 IST
