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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.

The Daddy of Dagdi Chawl

Updated: Nov 18, 2024

Dagdi Chawl

His persona as a dreaded ‘home grown’ don with the long moustaches has inspired many books, series and movies in popular culture. He was once feared as the ‘don’ of Dagdi Chawl. For some, he was the Robin Hood who robbed the rich and filled the pockets of the poor while for others, he was nothing more than a murderer and gangster. But Arun Gawli spread a wave of terror from the corridors of Dagdi Chawl. Be it out of fear or favour but the people of Chinchpokli elected him to the state legislative assembly between 2004 and 2009 as a member of his own party, the Akhil Bharatiya Sena. He soon became the Daddy of Dagdi Chawl, probably because his five children called him that.


Gawli joined a gangster’s gambling den in the 1980s in Mumbai and enjoyed initial political patronage from Bal Thackeray who protected him as a ‘Marathi’ strongman. The underworld was riding high in that era and Gawli was the answer to Dawood Ibrahim’s men. But by the 1990s he started attacking even the Shiv Sainiks and allegedly murdered some of them. In that decade, he founded his political outfit, the Akhil Bharatiya Sena. In 2004, he contested the elections from Chinchpokli and won but was convicted in 2008.


A desire—or need—to be seen in the corridors of power saw his wife Asha contest the assembly elections and became an MLA. Asha, too, has been accused or extortion. Their daughter Geeta is a former corporator. Last month, when Milind Narvekar visited the Gawli residence, it sparked curiosity on whether Geeta would contest the assembly elections from Byculla on a Shiv Sena (UBT) ticket.


The more prominent politician in the family is Sachin Ahir, Gawli’s nephew who is best known for his grand dahi handi celebrations at Jamboree Maidan in Worli, his constituency. He was first elected to the state assembly in 1999 and was made minister for housing in 2020. Even while Gawli may have wanted to consolidate political power within the family, Ahir turned against the uncle and joined the undivided NCP and contested the Lok Sabha elections against Gawli.


Ahir is now an MLC from the Shiv Sena (UBT). Another politician in the clan is Gawli’s uncle Hukumchand Yadav who was a legislator from Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh.

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