Tamil Nadu restaurants fear shutdown as LPG shortage tightens
Hotels and restaurant owners in Tamil Nadu, speaking to news agency PTI about the ongoing shortage of commercial cooking gas cylinders amid the war in West Asia, said the developments are triggering memories of the Covid-19 crisis when lockdowns were imposed.
Several southern cities, including Chennai and Bengaluru, have raised concerns over a shortage of commercial liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) supplies, as the Central government has taken steps to temporarily prioritise cooking gas cylinders for high-priority sectors such as education and hospitals.
Following the Iran-Israel-US war and the disruption to major energy shipping routes, including the Strait of Hormuz, the price of LPG cylinders was increased last Saturday. Household cooking gas prices went up by ₹60, while commercial LPG cylinder rates were hiked by ₹115.
Several eateries have reduced the number of food items on their menus in order to cope with the commercial LPG crisis.
“It is like a second COVID-19-enforced lockdown for us. We are cutting down on the usage of LPG cylinders. We have reduced the number of food items. For Dosa, tea or coffee, the stove should be receiving LPG supply non-stop. We have cut the number of items now and are providing food only in limited numbers,” the chairman of a popular restaurant chain told PTI.
Responding to a query, he said, “We expect to run for one or two days with existing stock. If there is no supply of the commercial LPG cylinders, we have no other go than to close down operations. Covid-19 lockdown-like situation returning.”
At the same time, another well-known outlet of Sri Ananda in Chennai informed customers through a notice on its menu on Tuesday that the availability of food items had been significantly restricted due to a shortage of commercial LPG cylinders.
“All these days, we were operating without any crisis in LPG cylinder supply. Today, we have cut down on the list of food items offered to reduce the usage of LPG cylinders. We have stopped preparing fried rice, side dishes, and appam as these items require more LPG. We do not know how long this (supply crisis) will continue,” an official said.