The Bengaluru LPG Owners Association on Tuesday called an urgent meeting to discuss the way forward if the prevailing LPG supply disruption continues, people familiar with the matter said.
“Tens of thousands of professionals and students, staying in paid accommodation, depend on hotels for food. With the lockdown, they will have to fend for themselves,” said Arun Kumar DT, president, PG Owners Welfare Association.
“We can operate our kitchens for about a week at most, but after that the food supply is likely to be affected. The government must find a solution to this crisis. Food is being served three times a day and residents also need hot water almost daily. The LPG shortage will hit us hard,” he added.
To conserve gas, some PG operators said they are considering prohibiting residents from cooking individually in shared kitchens, a practice owners say leads to increased fuel consumption. The owners also discuss reducing the variety of dishes prepared each day and replacing multi-item menus with simpler meals that require less cooking time. Another proposal under study is to reduce the number of meals served daily from three to two if the shortage continues.
The situation comes amid warnings from the Bruhat Bengaluru Hotel Association that thousands of hotels may shut down from Tuesday due to a sudden halt in the supply of commercial LPG cylinders. The association said that this development contradicts previous assurances from oil companies that supplies will remain uninterrupted for at least 70 days. If hotels suspend operations, the impact could extend to residents of PG accommodations, many of whom rely on nearby restaurants for food in addition to what is served at their residences.
Bengaluru is estimated to have around 15,000 PG establishments housing over a million residents, including professionals working in the city and blue-collar workers. Most of these facilities provide three meals a day to residents.
