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.

Fire missing in Maharashtra legislature’s business

Mumbai: Outside the imposing gates of the state legislature, Mumbai is literally burning. The India Meteorological Department has issued heatwave alerts, with temperatures in parts of the state touching a blistering 42.5° Celsius. Mumbaikars are sweltering under a relentless sun, scrambling for shade, and grappling with the earliest, most aggressive summer heatwave in over a decade. Yet, step inside the Legislative Assembly, and the contrast is as chilling as it is baffling. While the city sweats, the House remains lifeless, deserted, and devoid of any political fire.


The budget session, traditionally the most critical forum for holding the government accountable, has unfolded as a subdued, almost ghost-like affair. For the majority of the day, the benches wear a desolate look, reflecting a legislative paralysis that is starkly disconnected from the heated reality of the state outside. There are no spirited debates, no frantic floor management, and no major announcements addressing the public’s mounting crises. Instead, the political discourse has been reduced to a lukewarm blame game.


Lack Of Momentum

Senior minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, clearly unimpressed by the state of affairs, pointed a finger at the opposition for the lack of momentum. “Actually, it is the Opposition that drives the debates and discussions in the house during the session. But it appears as if they have lost the drive to do so,” Vikhe-Patil remarked.


The opposition, however, claims the fire has been extinguished by the government’s own indifference. NCP (SP) leader Jayant Patil countered by highlighting the absence of leadership at the very top. “The CM is hardly there in the house,” Patil said, further accusing the ruling coalition of actively dodging debates on issues that matter to the common people—people who are currently bearing the brunt of both inflation and an unforgiving summer.


Cold Opposition

The irony of the situation is most evident in how “cold” the opposition has remained regarding “hot” scandals. The investigating agency has submitted its inquiry report into the controversial Rs 295-crore Pune land deal involving Amadea Enterprises, a firm linked to newly elected Rajya Sabha MP Parth Pawar. In any functional, high-intensity session, this would have triggered a political earthquake. Instead, the opposition has maintained a deafening silence. Neither have they demanded that the report be tabled, nor have they pressed for action. It is a political ice age in the middle of a literal heatwave.


Political observers note that the treasury benches are content with the silence, as no government wants to voluntarily fan the flames of a controversy involving their own. But, the opposition’s refusal to act exposes a deeper, structural rot. Senior NCP minister Chhagan Bhujbal offered a blunt diagnosis for this apathy - the opposition is “completely demoralized,” he said adding that consecutive electoral defeats in assembly and local body polls have shattered their morale, and their miniscule numbers in the House, compounded by toxic internal differences, have rendered them impotent.


As the mercury climbs outside, the legislature remains trapped in a deep freeze of inertia. The state’s politicians are seemingly oblivious to the irony: while Maharashtra burns under an intense heatwave, the very institution designed to generate the “heat” of democracy has completely lost its spark.


Comments

bottom of page