Bengaluru, March 12: Members of the Karnataka State Hotel Association have urged the government to resume commercial LPG cylinder supplies in Bengaluru, saying that the disruption will have a cascading effect on the common people, along with heavy losses to eateries and restaurants.
A delegation of the association met with Karnataka Chief Secretary Shalini Rajneesh on Wednesday amid the reported shortage of commercial LPG cylinders. The members requested that a portion of the supply be reallocated for commercial use to ensure kitchens across the city continue functioning smoothly.
The Honorary President of the Hotel Association, P C Rao, said that the supply restriction will affect the meals of common people, along with affecting the farmers, as the hotels would have to stop buying vegetables, fruits, dairy and other things due to no cylinders.
"Our requirement is 25 per cent of consumption. 75 per cent is domestic, and 25 per cent is commercial gas, we requested at least give us 12.5 per cent. If am buying 50 cylinders per month, let them give atleast 50 per cent, 25 cylinders. If they make it zero, then everything will collapse. There is no food for Uber drivers, metro working people, IT, and hospital workers. We cannot prepare any food for common people, they will be the sufferers, and with that, our organisation will also lose," Rao said during a press conference here.
"We have heavy rentals, employee salaries, and infrastructure. In addition to that, we buy lakhs of litres of milk, vegetables, farmers' produce, which will also get stuck," he added.
President of the Association, Subramanya Holla, who was also part of the delegation, said that they requested the Chief Secretary to ensure that the problems are conveyed to the Central government too. He claimed that the officials were "not very responsive" to their pleas, and that if even a small amount of domestic supply is reallocated for commercial purposes, it would "solve 50 per cent of our problems"
"Not much of discussion on hotel industry but anyway, we have requested the chief secretary to look into the hotel industry and give a Karnataka representation to the central government saying that atleast one and a half per cent of the gas which is given to residentials be given to commercial (establishments), that will solve atleast 50 per cent of our problem," Holla told reporters.
The reported LPG shortage has emerged amid the ongoing conflict in West Asia, which has disrupted global oil and natural gas shipping. In response, the Union government invoked the Essential Commodities Act to prioritise domestic LPG supply, reserving higher allocations for households, hospitals, and essential services while restricting commercial distribution in several regions.
According to the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, India's crude oil supply remains secure. India consumes about 55 lakh barrels, and through diversified procurement, the volumes secured currently exceed what would normally have arrived through the Strait of Hormuz during this period.
India's total natural gas consumption is about 189 MMSCMD, of which 97.5 MMSCMD is produced domestically. About 47.4 MMSCMD of supply has been affected due to force majeure conditions.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has strengthened a control room, which is now operating round-the-clock, by including nodal officers from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas to facilitate fact-checking and issue immediate clarifications to states and Union Territories amid growing public concerns about LPG availability. (ANI)
