Restaurants in various parts of the country have reported shortages in commercial cooking gas supplies, with the National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI) on Monday urging the Center to intervene, saying any disruption in supply of LPG cylinders would lead to “catastrophic closure” of restaurants.
This development comes amid rising energy costs and supply constraints resulting from the ongoing conflict in West Asia.
“The restaurant industry mostly depends on commercial LPG for its operations. Any interruption in it will lead to catastrophic closure of a majority of restaurants,” NRAI, which represents around half a million restaurants across the country, said in a letter to the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
The association noted that the Centre’s March 5 order directing public sector oil marketing companies to ensure supply of LPG to local consumers had affected the delivery of commercial gas cylinders to restaurants.
Hotel and restaurant operations in Bengaluru are likely to be affected from Tuesday, following a sudden halt in the supply of commercial gas cylinders, the Bangalore Hotel Association (BHA) said on Monday.
“Due to the interruption of gas supplies, hotels will be closed starting tomorrow,” BHA said in a statement.
She noted that the supply of commercial gas cylinders was halted on Monday, as the hotel industry is an essential service, and the general public, students and medical professionals, who depend on hotels for their daily meals, will be affected.
In Gurugram, several restaurants reported disruption in the supply of commercial LPG cylinders, forcing restaurants to consider alternative arrangements like home cylinders or electric cooking equipment.
Rohit Arora, manager of a restaurant in Sector 29, said the restaurant currently has enough stock for a few days. “Our vendor has informed us that commercial LPG deliveries have been temporarily halted. We have spare cylinders that can last about three days. If the situation continues, we may have to switch to residential cylinders or reduce menu items,” he added.
In Pune, the civic body temporarily shut down the city’s gas burners following restrictions on the use of LPG components like propane and butane.
The Pune Municipal Corporation cited the Centre’s March 5 order, directing prioritization of available propane and butane for domestic LPG supply across the country, for its decision to keep gas burners shut from March 5 until further orders.
Increasing the reservation period for liquefied gas cylinders from 21 to 25 days
Meanwhile, the minimum waiting period for booking a domestic LPG cylinder refill has been raised from 21 days to 25 days to prevent hoarding and black market, officials familiar with the matter said.
They noted that the average household generally needs a cooking gas cylinder every six weeks to justify the 25-day hold limit for a household gas cylinder.
“There have been cases that people who were earlier booking LPG cylinders within 55 days, started booking the cylinders within 15 days,” Ani news agency quoted government sources as saying. “Local consumers will always be a top priority.”