top of page

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.

Fearing loss of face Ajit sticks to Baramati

Updated: Oct 25, 2024

Baramati

Mumbai: Ending speculations over his shifting out of family bastion, Baramati Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Ajit Pawar on Wednesday announced that he will continue from his traditional seat in the Assembly election.


Pawar released the first list of 38 NCP candidates.


It was speculated that Pawar may shift to Ambegaon since Baramati was no longer a safe seat for him. His wife Sunetra, who lost the Lok Sabha election, was trailing in Baramati Assembly segment by more than 60,000 votes. That was an alarming bell for Pawar.


“If he had shifted from Baramati that would have sent a wrong message to his supporters across the state,” a senior NCP leader said. “Remember, Ajit dada had won with highest margin in the state in 2019 elections from Baramati only. He moving out the base would definitely had affected the party workers’ morale.”


No surprises

The announcement of the first list of the candidates was made by NCP’s Maharashtra president Sunil Tatkare. The list of 38 candidates comprises sitting MLAs who shifted their allegiance to Ajit Pawar during the split in the NCP. All nine ministers currently serving in the Mahayuti government have been given the tickets.


Chhagan Bhujbal from Yeola, Dilip Walse Patil from Ambegaon, Dhananjay Munde from Parli, Hasan Mushrif from Kagal, Dharmrao Atram from Aheri, Aditi Tatkare from Shrivardhan, Anil Patil from Amalner, and Sanjay Bansode from Udgir. Deputy Speaker of state assembly Narhari Zirwal has been fielded from Dindori.


Former Congress MLAs who joined the NCP recently were also named in the list, including a ticket to Hiraman Khoskar from Igatpuri and Shulbha Khodke from Amravati. Both of them are former Congress MLAs who joined the NCP (Ajit Pawar) recently. Khodke was expelled from the Congress on October 12 this year. Khoskar joined the party on the night of October 14. The list also includes BJP leader and former minister Rajkumar Badole, who joined the party a couple of days before. Badole will contest from the Arjuni-Morgaon assembly constituency in Gondia district.


Nevertheless, absent from the first list are candidates for any of Mumbai’s 36 seats. Senior NCP leader Nawab Malik, who is considering running from Mankhurd-Shivaji Nagar, and his daughter Sana Malik, a potential candidate for the Anushakti Nagar seat, were not included in the first list. In Mumbra-Kalwa constituency Najeeb Mulla will be the party’s candidate. He will take on NCP (SP) leader Jitendra Awhad who is sitting MLA from this constituency.


This election is a bigger challenge for Ajit Pawar faction to overcome the setback it faced in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Contesting four of the state’s 48 Lok Sabha seats earlier this year, the NCP could only win one.

Comments

bottom of page