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.

Now, Kamra mocks ‘Viksit Bharat’

Mumbai: Undaunted by protests and clamour to jail him from the ruling ally Shiv Sena, standup comedian Kunal Kamra hit back with a new video – this time targeting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the state and centre, as well as right-wing outfits.


The new parody song is “Hum honge kangaal ek din…” which Kamra presented as the new Anthem of a Viksit Bharat (Developed India), comes with a higher dose of satire than the one ostensibly targeting Shiv Sena’s Deputy CM Eknath Shinde two days ago which sparked a nationwide furore.


Without batting an eyelid, Kamra sings it to the accompaniment of a guitar - and peals of audience laughter - and dares the powers-that-be which have summoned him for a probe in Mumbai.


The number has barbs and stings, like: ‘Mann me andhvishwas, Desh ka satyanash’; ‘Honge nange charo aur’, ‘Karenge dange charo or’, ‘Police ke pange charo aur’; ‘Man me Nathuram, Harkate Asaram’; “Hoga gai ka prachar', 'Leke haathon me hathiyar’; ‘Hoga Sangh ka shishtachar', 'Janata berozgar', 'Garibi ki kagaar’; and closing with the crescendo ‘Hum honge kangal ek din...’.


For effect and views, Kamra has strategically interspersed it with videos of the vociferous protests against him, the raw violence perpetrated by Shiv Sena activists at the Hotel Unicontinental (Khar), the naked vandalism, his effigies being burnt at several places.


Not surprisingly, in barely a couple of hours (till 5.30 pm), Kamra’s new video got more than five-lakh eyeballs, 30K-plus likes, and around 2K shares.


The shooting venue or date of the latest video is unclear since rowdy Shiv Sainiks had vandalized The Habitat Comedy Club in the hotel and later a civic squad came and razed certain alleged unauthorized portions there.


Buoyed by support and sympathy from all over the country and outside, the new video virtually mocks and cocks a snook at the Mahayuti allies or the police which have called for a 'grilling' after his tight ‘roasting’ of Shinde.


Currently in Puducherry, Kamra has assured full cooperation and sought a week’s time from the Mumbai Police to come and record his statement in the issue on the boil for three days now.


The Shiv Sena activists continued to slap dire warnings to Kamra and how they would deal with him ‘Sena-style’ if he refused to apologize to Shinde.

Another FIR was registered against Kamra in Dombivli police station on Monday.


Comments

bottom of page