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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.

How Hospitals Safely Handle Biomedical Waste

Biomedical waste handling is now hi-tech, with the MPCB pioneering real-time tracking of over 140 GPS-fitted trucks across the state from its control centre.

In my previous article, we discussed how hospitals must segregate waste according to the prescribed colour-coding system to ensure safe disposal. Building on that, the next step is its transportation to a common treatment facility for further processing and final safe disposal. Before this can take place, the waste must be stored temporarily within the hospital. Hospitals generally have a designated central waste-collection room located within their premises. This room should be away from public or visitor access.


A water supply should be available adjacent to the central waste-storage area to allow for cleaning and washing of the room and its containers. Drainage from the storage and washing area must be directed to the Effluent Treatment Plant. Signage displaying relevant details—such as the emergency contact number, the name of the person in charge, and a biohazard logo—should be clearly posted. No general waste should be stored in this room, and access must be restricted to authorised personnel only.


Biomedical waste generated in wards, laboratories, operating theatres, and other areas should be transported to the central storage room in covered trolleys or carts. These should travel along a route isolated from public areas. This ensures that patients and visitors are not exposed to the waste. The trolleys or carts should be dedicated solely to biomedical waste collection. Patient trolleys must not be used.


The operator of a common facility for the treatment of waste is responsible for transporting the waste collected in the hospital’s central storage. The most commonly used vehicles are four-wheeler tempo trucks. These must be modified according to specifications from the state pollution control boards under the Motor Vehicle Act of 1988. The vehicles must be covered, have proper labelling, and display biohazard logos on all sides to show that infectious biomedical waste is being transported. Sometimes, the vehicle may need refrigeration if the ambient temperature is high, and the waste has to travel a long distance. The Bio-Medical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules (BMW Rules) mandate the use of GPS for tracking vehicles transporting biomedical waste. A tracking system has multiple benefits, such as:


Monitoring and control: GPS allows authorities to monitor vehicle movements in real-time and calculate the number of trips made by vehicles from the pickup source to the common facility.


Accountability and transparency: GPS tracking provides a record of vehicle routes and disposal locations, increasing accountability and transparency in the waste management process.


Preventing environmental and health hazards: By ensuring proper waste disposal, GPS tracking helps mitigate the risks of environmental contamination and public health issues associated with improper biomedical waste management.


The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) was among the first to implement this. It is monitoring the movements of more than 140 trucks online from a control centre through such GPS devices.


Now, what happens to the waste after it reaches the common facility? Please hold on until next Saturday.


Until then, have a good weekend!


(The writer is an environmentalist.)

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