The Centre on Friday urged households to shift to piped natural gas (PNG) wherever available and warned of strict action against hoarding and black marketing of LPG, as it sought to manage rising demand triggered by panic booking amid tensions in West Asia.At an inter-ministerial briefing, officials from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said domestic LPG consumers were being prioritised and supplies remained stable, even as bookings had surged in recent days.Petroleum Ministry Joint Secretary Sujata Sharma said nearly 1.5 crore households currently use PNG, while another 60 lakh homes located close to pipeline networks can easily switch to piped gas, a move the government hopes will ease pressure on LPG supplies.Consumers in major cities facing difficulties in obtaining LPG cylinders have been advised to approach their local city gas distribution networks for PNG connections, she said, adding that meetings were being held with gas distributors and entities such as GAIL to facilitate the transition.At the same time, authorities have stepped up action against illegal stockpiling of LPG cylinders. The Petroleum Ministry and the Department of Consumer Affairs held a meeting with state officials on Thursday, directing them to crack down on hoarding and black marketing.Enforcement actions have already been carried out in several states. In Jhansi, police recovered a truckload of stolen LPG cylinders, while in Hapur a distributor’s godown was sealed after cylinders were found stored illegally in a house. Similar raids were conducted in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh.Officials also activated inspection teams from public sector oil marketing companies to conduct surprise checks.Despite concerns linked to disruptions near the Strait of Hormuz, Sharma said no distributor among the country’s 25,000 LPG outlets had reported running out of stock.However, she acknowledged that daily LPG bookings had jumped from an average of 50-55 lakh to nearly 75-76 lakh, attributing the spike to panic buying. Around 50 lakh cylinders continue to be delivered each day, she said.The government has urged consumers not to queue at distributors and instead book cylinders through digital systems such as IVRS, SMS, WhatsApp and mobile apps, which now account for about 83 per cent of bookings.