Due to the war between America, Israel and Iran, the supply of LPG in the world has been affected. India has also not remained untouched by this. LPG supply has stopped due to war in West Asia. This has deepened the gas crisis in the country. Hotels and restaurants in big cities of India – Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai have had to close their kitchens.
The restaurant industry is suffering huge losses due to non-availability of commercial gas cylinders. At the same time, the problem of domestic cylinder also remains. In many cities, people are standing in long lines outside the agencies for LPG cylinders. However, meanwhile the Gas Distributors Association says that there is no shortage of domestic gas in the country.
The situation has worsened due to acute shortage of commercial LPG cylinders in the country. The shutters of many restaurants in big cities like Chennai, Bengaluru, Mumbai are closed. There are notices outside – “Temporarily closed due to non-availability of LPG cylinders”. At some places the menu has been halved, things like dosa-idli have also been stopped.
At the same time, many hotels are now cooking food on induction stoves. A big restaurant group in Chennai is cooking sambar, dal and rice in big utensils on induction. The work is being done with electricity after switching off the gas cylinder. Due to shortage of gas or inflation, the use of induction is increasing.
Even in Madhya Pradesh, LPG supply has reduced by about 30%. There are long queues of people at gas agencies. People are worried about LPG cylinders. People claim that online booking of cylinders is not possible, hence there is a long line at the agency for offline booking. People have to wait for hours for cylinders.
There are long queues of people at Indane Gas Agency in Patna. People are waiting to book and fill LPG cylinders. Due to less supply of LPG in the country, such crowd is being seen at many gas agencies.
The supply of gas cylinders is also affected in Mumbai and Lucknow. Due to which the owners of hotels and shops in the city are facing difficulty in running their business. Hoteliers are hoping that the supply will be restored soon, but the last cylinder available with some people is also nearing its end.
The government says that the situation is being monitored and production at the refinery is being increased. There is an appeal to the people not to panic and book the cylinder as per their need only.