Restaurants across South Indian states are staring at a bleak future with existing stock expected to last only for one or two days due to a lack of commercial LPG cylinder supply amid the West Asia conflict, several hoteliers said on Tuesday. Some of the hotels and restaurants have already cut the number of food items offered in order to reduce the LPG use, officials said.
The Tamil Nadu Hotels Association, a body representing the hotels and restaurants in the State, on March 7, appealed to the Centre to withdraw its order instructing oil marketing companies to suspend commercial LPG cylinders.
"We requested the Central Government to treat this as an essential commodity and give gas cylinders on a rational basis. Otherwise, there is no other option for us except closing down the hotels. We also request the State Government to give a concession on electricity, considering it as an industrial tariff. We also request that the governments give some subsidies to solar panels. Then, if it is possible, we can shift to power by installing the induction stoves," M Venkata Subbu, Tamil Nadu Hotels Association president, stated to PTI.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka Hotels Association fears an impact on the macro economy. "That is creating a kind of crisis, and this is going to have a cascading effect on the farmers who were growing vegetables, the labor, and the industry overall because everything is going to be affected because of the gas shortage," says Subramanya Holla, association president. Holla further demanded that the government provide partial support so that hotels can continue operations even if it is at a smaller scale.
Hotels in Telangana have also started facing a shortage of commercial LPG, with industry associations warning of disruption in operations if the fuel supply is not normalised soon. "All hotels are facing the crisis. Maybe, bigger ones can manage for a week if they have kept the stock, but the small ones cannot run after tomorrow. We don't have another plan also because we got to know about this only yesterday. We had planned some induction stoves, but now we have no chance," Venkat Reddy, Telangana Hotels Association president, said. He added, "We request the government to ensure supply as usual. If not possible, ensure partial supply even if it is at a higher price."
Addressing concerns, Civil Supplies Department Commissioner M Stephen Raveendra told PTI that 2.3 lakh cylinders are daily supplied by the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) and urged the public not to panic. Asked if there has been any disruption in LPG cooking gas supply to domestic and commercial sectors amid the conflict in West Asia, he said, "Things are going on smoothly. People should not panic. The situation is comfortable at present."
Meanwhile, hotels in Andhra Pradesh say the impact is minimal. "Now the supply is partially cut; we are given six cylinders in place of 10. There are demands to provide as per our demands. The State Civil Supplies Minister assured a solution for us. There are issues in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, and Telangana, but we have not been impacted like them," RV Swamy, Andhra Star Hotels Association president, stated.
On March 6, the government invoked, sparingly used, emergency powers to direct oil refineries to ramp up LPG production to increase the availability of domestic cooking gas to avoid potential disruptions due to the widening West Asia conflict. On March 7, the prices of domestic LPG and commercial cylinders were hiked by Rs 60 and Rs 114.5, respectively.
