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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.

Fatal Collision

The catastrophic collision off Mumbai’s coast which claimed the lives of 13 people, underscores a chilling lapse in the Indian Navy’s operational safeguards. A speedboat, testing a newly fitted engine, veered off course and collided with a passenger ferry bound for Elephanta Island, causing it to capsize. The devastating incident highlights both the perilous nature of naval trials and the question of accountability in safeguarding civilian lives.


While the engine malfunction is believed to have caused the craft to lose control, the tragedy raises alarming questions about the Navy’s procedures for testing such critical components.


The questions that must be answered are both simple and profound. Why was a passenger ferry allowed to share waters with a Navy craft conducting a high-speed engine trial? Testing the limits of a newly installed engine cannot come at the cost of human life. Why were there no clear parameters set for conducting such tests in busy shipping lanes, especially when passenger vessels were known to be operating nearby?


This incident is not just a failure of operational procedure but also a stark reminder of the relative indifference to civilian safety. The victims, ordinary citizens simply enjoying a day out, were at the mercy of a Navy craft testing its engine in a scenario that no one could have predicted. And yet, such oversight is precisely the responsibility of the military, an institution tasked with the safety and well-being of its citizens.


It is not the first time that India’s defence forces have faced criticism for operational errors that led to public harm. But this incident, with its gruesome toll, demands a new standard. The Navy must rethink how it conducts testing and ensure that civilian life is never again jeopardized for the sake of a trial run. Clear protocols must be established, limiting such tests to areas far from populated routes, and ensuring that the trial vessels are equipped with proper safety measures.


Moreover, the Navy’s response in the immediate aftermath of the crash, while swift, should not distract from the systemic failures that allowed this tragedy to unfold. Had the Navy ensured that more rigorous precautions were in place, lives could have been spared. Instead, we are left with an avoidable tragedy and unanswered questions that only add to the heartbreak of those who lost their loved ones.


Given the high volume of civilian vessels in Mumbai’s waters, particularly those ferrying passengers to islands like Elephanta, it is crucial that military trials are conducted in designated, off-limits zones to prevent future accidents. Such mishaps, often blamed on lapses in coordination and oversight, reflect systemic issues that have yet to be addressed comprehensively within the military’s operational framework. Given the increasing number of civilian boats operating in popular coastal areas across the country, the urgency of implementing more stringent safety measures and conducting trials in controlled environments cannot be overstated.

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