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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.

India patents HQ to shift from Mumbai to Delhi

Updated: Feb 14, 2025

CGPDTM

Mumbai: 10 years after then Commerce & Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s first announcement in parliament, the national headquarter of Controller General of Patents, Designs and TradeMarks (CGPDTM) in Mumbai is set to shift to New Delhi shortly, official sources said.


The new CGPDTM base will be at the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) Dwarka Building along with the top brass, decision-makers and their key aides, numbering around 30, from Mumbai.


“The shifting process is at an advanced stage. A notification to the effect is expected shortly from the Centre. Barring the headquarters, the other affiliated offices shall continue to function with limited authority from Mumbai,” a top official told 'The Perfect Voice'.


Presently, the office is headed by Prof. Unnat P. Pandit of Gujarat, who was appointed to the prestigious and powerful position through the Lateral Entry Scheme of the centre.


The official said that Mumbai was chosen over 80 years ago for the CGPDTM given its emerging financial importance, and a few years later, it got a permanent home at the IPO Building in Antop Hill, staffed by around 275 people.


“The new move could impact many of the stakeholders, but its exact short-and-long term repercussions are yet to be analyzed,” said the official guardedly.


Nevertheless, he hinted at challenges arising out of the absence of a full-fledged IP-centric ecosystem with quick access to legal-technical expertise besides logistical difficulties pertaining to filings, hearings, consultations, etc.


Interestingly, a few months ago, there was a purported move to transplant the CGPDTM headquarter to Ahmedabad, but owing to local political opposition it was shelved.


Thereafter, it was decided to shift it to New Delhi, and a letter to the effect was finally in Dec. 2024 from the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, currently headed by Mumbai North MP, Piyush Goyal.


A Mumbai businessman Santosh Deshpande, who is active in the IPR movement said the country’s commercial capital and Maharashtra stand to forfeit yet another crucial department, on the lines of many others in the past 10 years or so.


“It is surprising that Goyal, who is also a Mumbaikar, has allowed a free hand to his ministry to transfer such an important department out to New Delhi. This has unnerved various collaborators and innovators connected with the industry, academia, legal professionals, Indian and global research organisations, etc. They all contribute to shaping India’s IP framework and effective enforcement,” pointed out Deshpande.


India currently ranks among the top 10 countries globally for Patents.


“For the record, the Head Office of Trademark and Patent office Mumbai shall continue working from the city. It is only the office with the administration and finance division that will be based in Delhi.”

Piyush Goyal, Union Minister, Commerce

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