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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.

Eleven Maoists lay down arms in Gondia

More than 100 Red rebels surrender in central India

Naxals arrive to surrender their weapons before police in Gondia district, on Friday. Pic: PTI
Naxals arrive to surrender their weapons before police in Gondia district, on Friday. Pic: PTI

Gondia (Maharashtra): As the Centre’s deadline to crush Maoism by March 2026 approaches, the Red brigade suffered another setback with 11 Maoists laying down arms in Gondia district.

 

This has taken the count of surrenders to over 100 during this week in central India - with the CPI (Maoist) networks seen to be crumbling in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh – and the security forces gaining an upper hand.

 

According to Gadchiroli Range Deputy IGP Ankit Goyal, among the 11 is one Vinod Sayyana, 40, a senior Maoist cadre from Karimnagar in Telangana, who carried a bounty of Rs 25 lakhs. He gave himself up with an AK-47 assault rifle.

 

The entire surrendered group belonged to the dreaded Darekasa Dalam, which is the most active unit in the MMC zone of Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh.

 

“With the latest surrender, a majority of the insurgents, who carried a total reward of Rs 89 Lakhs, have now given up violence and are prepared to join the national mainstream. It is a decisive blow dealt to the outfit’s operational strength on the ground,” Goyal told the media on Friday.

 

The others, including at least four women rebels, are identified as: Rani alias Rame Yesu Narote (30), Sheila Chamru Madavi (40) and Ritu Bhima Dodi (20), Shevanti Raisingh Pandre (32), Pandu Pusu Wadde (35), Santu alias Tijauram Dharamsahay Poretti (35), Kashiram Rajya Bantula (62), Nakke Suklu Kara (55), Sannu Mudiyam (27), Sadu Pulai Sotti (30).

 

According to officials, the last week of November alone has witnessed over 100 Maoists - carrying cumulative rewards exceeding Rs 1.50 crore - renouncing violence and returning to the mainstream across Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh, historically regarded as the epi-centre of Maoist insurgency, with spillover in other states.

 

Chhattisgarh witnesses surrenders

Several hardcore Maoists also shunned violence in Chhattisgarh, among them was Saroj alias Malku Sodhi, a divisional committee member with an Rs 8-lakh reward, and a group of area committee members Bhupesh alias Sanak Ram Furami, Prakash, Kamlesh alias Jhitru Yadav, Janni alias Raymati Salam, Santosh, and Ramsheela alias Bukli Salam - each with bounties of Rs 5 lakh.

 

The most symbolic surrender was of Chaitu alias Shyam Dada, 63, a member of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC) – the local Maoists’ highest decision-making. His return to normal life at a senior age underscores the disenchantment with Maoist ideology, fatigue, sustained security operations and intensified outreach campaigns by the officialdom, and the looming deadline on all outlaws still left in the jungles.

 

 


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