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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.

Sugar Daddy’s Bitter Fight

Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil

Ahilyanagar (erstwhile Ahmednagar) is the largest district of Maharashtra area-wise. It sends 12 MLAs to the state assembly and hence political parties in the state always struggle to control this district. Since past few years, the current revenue minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil who has won the Shirdi assembly constituency in the district for past seven times and is preparing for the eighth consecutive victory, has been undisputedly controlling the district.


Members of the Vikhe-Patil family, whose interests go beyond politics, have been part of almost all major parties in the last 70 years. The biggest contribution of the family in Maharashtra has been its role in setting up Asia’s first cooperative sugar mill in Ahmednagar right after independence by late Vitthalrao Vikhe-Patil under the guidance of then Congress stalwart Dhananjay Gadgil. It changed the rural economy and introduction of sugarcane as a cash crop contributed to uplift of people in villages and towns in several parts of Maharashtra.


Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil is the grandson of Vitthalrao Vikhe-Patil. Born on June 15, 1959, he began his political career as the district head of the Youth Congress in 1986. He won his first assembly election in 1994 from Shirdi on the Congress ticket. However, after his father left the party and joined Shiv Sena, Radhakrishna too resigned from post and quit the party. He won with a thumping majority in the by-polls and became minister for entrepreneurship and rehabilitation departments. He returned to the Congress in 2004 and was minister of School Education, Transport, Ports, Law and Judiciary, Agriculture, FDA and Marathi language, under different Chief Ministers Between 2008 and 2014. In 2014 he became the leader of opposition of the state assembly. In 2019, ahead of the Lok Sabha election, his son Dr. Sujay joined the BJP leaving little chance for Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil but to follow him. He was entrusted with the responsibility of Housing department by the then CM Devendra Fadnavis. In 2022, Vikhe-Patil became the revenue minister under Eknath Shinde.


Throughout his career, Vikhe-Patil has been known for his focus on issues related to agriculture, rural development, and infrastructure. As minister for Agriculture, he implemented several initiatives aimed at improving the lives of farmers and boosting the state’s agricultural output, while as minister for School education he brought in schemes for improving educational infrastructure across the state. As transport minister he brought in smart ticketing system, initiated computerization of reservations and booking system. His tenure in the role of Agriculture minister was also marked by efforts to modernize agricultural practices, enhance market access for farmers, and address issues such as water scarcity and crop insurance.

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