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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

Commercial LPG 'evaporates' in Maharashtra

Mumbai : The short supply of commercial LPG cylinders turned ‘grim’ on Wednesday as hundreds of small and medium eateries – on whom the ordinary working Mumbaikars depend on for daily meals – shut down or drastically trimmed menus, on Wednesday.   With an estimated 50,000-plus hotels, restaurants and small food joints, the crunch is beginning to be felt severely, said Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI) vice-president and Hotel and Restaurant Association Western...

Commercial LPG 'evaporates' in Maharashtra

Mumbai : The short supply of commercial LPG cylinders turned ‘grim’ on Wednesday as hundreds of small and medium eateries – on whom the ordinary working Mumbaikars depend on for daily meals – shut down or drastically trimmed menus, on Wednesday.   With an estimated 50,000-plus hotels, restaurants and small food joints, the crunch is beginning to be felt severely, said Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI) vice-president and Hotel and Restaurant Association Western India (HRAWI) spokesperson Pradeep Shetty.   “We are in continuous touch with the concerned authorities, but the situation is very gloomy. There is no response from the Centre or the Ministry of Petroleum on when the situation will ease. We fear that more than 50 pc of all eateries in Mumbai will soon down the shutters. The same will apply to the rest of the state and many other parts of India,” Shetty told  ‘ The Perfect Voice’ .   The shortage of commercial LPG has badly affected multiple sectors, including the hospitality and food industries, mass private or commercial kitchens and even the laundry businesses, industry players said.   At their wits' ends, many restaurateurs resorted to the reliable old iron ‘chulhas’ (stoves) fired by either coal or wood - the prices of which have also shot up and result in pollution - besides delaying the cooking.   Anticipating a larger crisis, even domestic LPG consumers besieged retail dealers in Mumbai, Pune, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Ratnagiri, Kolhapur, Akola, Nagpur to book their second cylinder, with snaky queues in many cities. The stark reality of the 12-days old Gulf war with the disturbed supplies has hit the people and industries in the food supply chains that feed crores daily.   “The ordinary folks leave home in the morning after breakfast, then they rely on the others in the food chain for their lunch or dinner. Many street retailers have also shut down temporarily,” said Shetty.   Dry Snacks A quick survey of some suburban ‘khau gullies’ today revealed that the available items were mostly cold sandwiches, fruit or vegetable salads, cold desserts or ice-creams, cold beverages and packed snacks. Few offered the regular ‘piping hot’ foods that need elaborate cooking, or charging higher than normal menu rates, and even the app-based food delivery system was impacted.   Many people were seen gloomily munching on colorful packets of dry snacks like chips, chivda, sev, gathiya, samosas, etc. for lunch, the usually cheerful ‘chai ki dukaans’ suddenly disappeared from their corners, though soft drinks and tetrapaks were available.   Delay, Scarcity  Maharashtra LPG Dealers Association President Deepak Singh yesterday conceded to “some delays due to supply shortages” of commercial cylinders, but assured that there is no scarcity of domestic cylinders.   “We are adhering to the Centre’s guidelines for a 25 days booking period between 2 cylinders (domestic). The issue is with commercial cylinders but even those are available though less in numbers,” said Singh, adding that guidelines to prioritise educational institutions, hospitals, and defence, are being followed, but others are also getting their supplies.   Despite the assurances, Shetty said that the current status is extremely serious since the past week and the intermittent disruptions have escalated into a near-total halt in supplies in many regions since Monday.   Adding to the dismal picture is the likelihood of local hoteliers associations in different cities like Pune, Palghar, Nagpur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, and more resorting to tough measures from Thursday, including temporary shutdown of their outlets, which have run out of gas stocks.

All Eyes on Uddhav’s Show

Updated: Oct 22, 2024

Uddhav

After an almost lost legal battle to regain control over party and with allies who are reluctant to project him as the Chief Ministerial candidate of the alliance, Uddhav Thackeray is all set to fight the do-or-die battle of his political career in this assembly election. The question remains whether he will be able to shed the image of an incompetent CM and repeat the charisma he shown in 2014.


After BJP under Narendra Modi swept the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the results of Maharashtra assembly had become clear and Uddhav Thackeray had sensed that his party stands a good chance to get a bigger share in power. The state BJP was trying to shed its ‘younger brother’ image within the alliance, which didn’t go well with Shiv Sena and both the parties contested assembly polls independently. That was the first assembly election when Bal Thackeray was not there to guide the party. Uddhav’s strategy to severe ties with the BJP won 63 MLA to his party and his leadership was established in the state politics in real sense. If he is able to repeat a similar performance this time, his chances of ruling the Maharashtra once again would be very high. But, if he couldn’t do it that might mark an end to his political career.


In 2014 Uddhav reluctantly allowed his party to join the BJP government under Devendra Fadnavis, but kept criticizing the government over an array of issues including the Metro 3 car shed at Aarey. Ultimately in 2019 he walked out of the alliance over the issue of rotational chief ministership. The Congress and NCP, for whom chances to get back to power were meek, sensed a chance and made Uddhav head the coalition government. Though much of next two and half years of his tenure as chief minister were wasted due to COVID-related restrictions, his government came under heavy fire for corruption from the outside, by opposition BJP, and for not following Hindutva agenda, from within, by likes of Eknath Shinde and others.


Uddhav Thackeray’s decision to resign without going in for floor test came under heavy criticism from all sides. However, he was undeterred. “In a democracy, heads are counted to show numbers. I am not interested in that. I don’t want to play these games,” he said tendering his resignation to the governor in June 2022. While many interpret this as his unwillingness to accept challenges and fight fiercely, others feel that this shows his different style, where he would think over the situation and meticulously plan the micro strategy to overcome the adversity.


If the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) performs well in the assembly polls, it would bolster the party’s claims of being the only inheritor of Bal Thackeray’s legacy. However, the challenges are huge.

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