Restaurants and hotels across the country, especially in cities like Bengaluru, Pune and Mumbai, may be forced to shut operations if the ongoing crisis caused by the shortage of commercial LPG cylinders continues. This could lead to massive job losses National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) President Sagar Daryani told PTI.
"Ultimately if this (LPG cylinders) is not made available it will lead to a lot of job losses, many restaurants will shut down, may be permanently because they don't have enough of capital to keep the losses continuing," National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) President Sagar Daryani told PTI.
Daryani also shared that restaurants are already contemplating getting into limited menu or operating at different hours. Explaining the severity of the crunch he said that most restaurants and hotels have LPG cylinder stock for 1-2 days. He further said that if the supply was not increased it would lead to closure of many hotels and restaurants in cities like Bengaluru, Pune and Mumbai.
In a letter to Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday, NRAI said the restaurant industry continues to face tough challenges to maintain operations because of disruption in supply of commercial LPG.
It urged the government to issue a clarification regarding the supply of commercial LPG for the restaurant industry as an essential service.
NRAI also issued an advisory to member restaurants asking them to tweak menus and adopt LPG conservation measures.
"Yesterday we figured that in many places, especially Bengaluru and Pune, there was a lot of hoarding and black marketing and the prices (of LPG cylinders) also went up by 1.5 times. However, our worry is the question mark over the availability of LPG cylinders for restaurants. Our request to the government is that LPG cylinders should be made available with uninterrupted supply for restaurants and hotels," Daryani said.
He shared that 85% restaurants depend on LPG cylinders for preparing food.
LPG supply disruptions are being reported from Pune, Aurangabad, Nagpur, Delhi, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, Pradeep Shetty, Vice President, Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI) said.
Amid the West Asia crisis, the government has revised the priority order for allocating domestically produced natural gas, placing LPG production alongside CNG and piped cooking gas at the top. This has led to supply crunch for hotels and restaurants which use market priced commercial LPG.
The shortage of commercial LPG has become extremely serious over the past week, with intermittent disruptions escalating into a near complete halt in supply in several regions since Monday, said Shetty, who is also the Spokesperson, Hotel and Restaurant Association (Western India) - HRAWI.
ALSO READ: LPG Shortage: Chennai Hoteliers Body Says 'Will Have To Shut Restaurants Within 24 Hours'
"We are already receiving reports of severe shortages from cities including Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad and Nagpur, while similar disruptions are being reported in states such as Delhi, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. If the situation does not improve within the next two days, nearly 50 per cent of hotels and restaurants in Mumbai may be forced to temporarily shut operations depending on the stock of cylinders they currently have," he cautioned.
This will especially affect international tourists. Also, smaller and medium-sized eateries will be the first to be impacted, as they typically operate with limited reserves, Shetty stated.
He observed that while alternatives such as electric or induction-based cooking are gradually emerging, they are not yet viable for most commercial kitchens that rely on high-intensity, fast-paced cooking methods typical of Indian cuisine.
(With Inputs From PTI)
Essential Business Intelligence, Continuous LIVE TV, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.