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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.

Petrol pump fined for stinking toilet

Updated: Apr 1, 2025

BPCL imposes a fine of Rs 60,000 for poor services


Petrol pump

Mumbai/Pune: Sending out a stern warning, the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) has slapped a fine of Rs 60,000 on a Pune petrol pump for stinking toilets and rendering overall poor services to its customers.


The major oil marketing company levied the steep penalty on its retail fuel dealer Nitin Ishwarlal Shah who owns the Ishwar Service Station at Kondhwa Road in Lullanagar.


The action followed a complaint by a regular client Prafful Sarda, a full-fledged enquiry along with multiple warnings to ensure that the fuel bunker adhered to the BPCL’s stringent Marketing Discipline Guidelines (MDG), 2012, in future.


Among the major lapses unearthed were poor housekeeping at the premises, dirty toilets, unclean canopy, an illegal PUC box kept in the retail area, staff not wearing proper uniforms and quality of care area reduced to a dump with barrels and lubes - resulting in a fine of Rs. 25,000.


The probe found that the driveway sales personnel were repeatedly seen sporting sports shoes, and though a minor offence, it attracted a penalty of Rs. 25,000.


Sarda said he found on several occasions that there was no air-boy to fill up free air as is the norm at most retail outlets and after verification BPCL levied a fine of Rs 10,000.


“At least three days in a week, there is no air-boy to provide air to the vehicle tyres and customers have to go elsewhere for unreliable and paid options. When the clients shell out the exorbitant amounts for petrol-diesel they are entitled to at least free air, decent toilets and clean drinking water, particularly during the hot summer,” fumed Sarda.


The OMC has issued warnings for first-time offences like inadequate and ill-equipped first-aid facilities and aluminium buckets without binding wires.


Federation of All Maharashtra Petrol Dealers Association (FAMPEDA) President Uday Lodh, said toilets or free air and water are a ‘complimentary service’ provided only to the fuel-buyers, at the insistence of the authorities, by the 7,500-fuel stations in Maharashtra.


“However, these are misused by unauthorized persons, pedestrians or general people who use it as a ‘public toilet’ and create a mess. We have no financial or human resources for the upkeep of these facilities, but we somehow manage,” Lodh told ‘The Perfect Voice’.


Lauding the BPCL, a Mumbai pharma company Director Rakesh Upadhyay recalled a harrowing instance at an Oshiwara petrol pump, which was a messy hell, choked with muck, overflowing, no running water or toilet papers, dirty walls and defective locks, forcing him to go to a nearby mall.


Concurring, a Mira Road realtor, Dinesh Wagh said he’s always on the move with customers and has encountered such problems at fuel bunks on multiple occasions.


“The OMCs should deploy flying squads to make surprise checks on all petrol pumps at least once a week… It will ensure good services/facilities to all customers and the companies could earn lakhs of rupees every month in penalties,” Wagh suggested.

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