The informal group of ministers (GoM), chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, on Saturday reviewed risks to energy supplies amid reports of unusual panic buying of fuel at retail outlets in some state. The GoM was constituted earlier this week to assess the impact of the West Asia crisis and mount a national response.The meeting was attended by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister JP Nadda, Petroleum Minister Hardeep Puri, Food Minister Pralhad Joshi and Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri was also present.After the meeting, Rajnath said the group also discussed domestic availability of essential commodities, critical infrastructure resilience and robustness of India’s supply chains in the wake of the ongoing conflict in West Asia.“There was in-depth discussion on all measures being taken by the Centre. The NDA government under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi is closely monitoring the situation and it is committed to safeguarding the Indian people from any impact of the conflict,” he said.The meeting was held hours after the Centre acknowledged panic buying reports in some areas. “There were certain rumours which led to panic buying at some retail outlets in a few states, resulting in unusually high sales and heavy crowding at retail outlets. However, it is informed that there are adequate stocks of petrol and diesel available at all petrol stations in the country. The government reiterates its advice to the public not to believe rumours,” officials said.Efforts are underway to expand piped natural gas supplies where possible. States have already come up with policies for faster right of user/right of way (RoU/RoW) permission to enable speedy laying of pipelines.Further, the Centre has directed all city gas distribution entities to make every effort to connect residential schools and colleges, hostels, community kitchens, anganwadi kitchens, etc. through piped natural gas (PNG) within five days, wherever pipeline infrastructure is available in near vicinity.To this end, the Ministry of Road has said they have adopted “accelerated approval framework for city gas distribution (CGD) infrastructure with reduced timelines” as a special measure for three months. This means applications pertaining to the CGD infrastructure will be processed on priority.Meanwhile, the government said all refineries were operating at high capacity, with adequate crude inventories in place. “The country is maintaining sufficient stocks of petrol and diesel. Domestic LPG production from refineries has been increased to support domestic consumption,” the officials said, adding that the delivery of domestic LPG was normal and only 54 lakh LPG refills were delivered yesterday — down from the March 13 peak of 88 lakh bookings.“Commercial LPG allocation to states has increased to 70 per cent of pre-crisis levels and 33,781 MT non-domestic LPG has been lifted by commercial entities since March 14,” they added.