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...

min read

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 Khel Ratnas who made India proud

Correspondent
Jan 3, 2025
3 min read

Record 17 para-athletes to receive Arjuna

Swapnil Kusale to receive Arjuna Award, Deepali Deshpande ‘Dronacharya’

New Delhi: Double Olympic-medallist Manu Bhaker and chess world champion D Gukesh were among four winners of the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award announced by the Sports Ministry, which also named an unprecedented 17 para-athletes in the list of 32 Arjuna awardees to honour their resounding success at the Paris Paralympics.

The other two Khel Ratna winners unveiled by the ministry on Thursday for the year 2024 were men's hockey captain Harmanpreet Singh and para-athlete Praveen Kumar.

The awards will be conferred on the athletes by President Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on January 17.

The 22-year-old Bhaker became independent India's first athlete to win two medals in a single edition of the Olympics with her bronze-winning show in the 10m air pistol individual and 10m air pistol mixed team events in August.

The announcement comes a few days after reports that Bhaker had been ignored for the Khel Ratna as the award selection committee did not recommend her due to the absence of an application from her.

The shooter later admitted that there may have been a lapse on her part while filing the nomination. Once the procedural issues were sorted, there was never any doubt that Bhaker would be among the awardees.

In the same Paris Games, Hamranpreet led the Indian hockey team to its second consecutive bronze medal.

The 18-year-old Gukesh, on the other hand, became the youngest-ever World champion while also helping the Indian team win a historic gold in the Chess Olympiad last year.

The fourth recipient, para high-jumper Praveen, was crowned the T64 champion in the Paris Paralympics. The T64 classification is for athletes who have one or both legs missing below the knee and rely on a prosthetic leg for running.

The Khel ratna awardees receive a cash prize of Rs 25 lakh along with a citation and a medallion. The Arjuna awardees are given Rs 15 lakh as cash reward, a statuette of Arjuna and a citation.

Arjuna for Paris medallists

The athletes selected for this year's Arjuna award include Paris Olympics bronze medal-winning lot of wrestler Aman Sehrawat, shooters Swapnil Kusale and Sarabjot Singh and the men's hockey team players Jarmanpreet Singh, Sukhjeet Singh, Sanjay and Abhishek.

The para-athletes outnumber the able-bodied ones in the list of Arjuna winners this time due to the magnificent Paris showing in which they returned with 29 medals, including seven gold and nine silver.

The official list also includes sprinter Jyothi Yarraji, javelin thrower Annu Rani, women's hockey team captain Salima Tete, world champion boxers Nitu Ghangas and Saweety, veteran swimmer Sajan Prakash, Olympiad gold-winning chess player Vantika Agrawal and squash star Abhay Singh.

Among the para athletes, Paris Paralympics gold-medallists Dharambir (club throw), Navdeep Singh (javelin throw) and Nitesh Kumar (para badminton) are the prominent names in the record number of Arjuna winners.

Paris Olympics bronze-winning para-archer Rakesh Kumar, para-shooters Mona Agarwal and Rubina Francis also feature in the list among others.

The ministry also cleared three coaches for Dronacharya award in the regular category, including Olympic bronze-medallist Swapnil Kusale's coach Deepali Deshpande.

The Dronacharya award in the lifetime category will be conferred on former India football manager Armando Colaco and badminton coach S Muralidharan.

The award is given to coaches to honour their outstanding work and for enabling athletes to achieve excellence in their chosen sport in top international competitions.

Murlikant Petkar gets Lifetime Arjuna

India's first Paralympic gold-medallist Mulikant Petkar, who won the top honours in the 50m freestyle swimming event of the 1972 Heidelberg Paralympics, was named for the Arjuna Awards (Lifetime).

An Army man, Petkar's inspiring tale of resurrecting himself as a para-athlete after being disabled due to bullet wounds sustained during the 1965 India-Pakistan war, was recently turned into a biopic, 'Chandu Champion', starring Kartik Aaryan.

1 Comment

billyy brown

Jul 14, 2025

Reading about the record 17 para-athletes receiving the Arjuna and legends like Swapnil Kusale and Deepali Deshpande being honored truly gives a sense of how far Indian sports have come, both in visibility and recognition. It’s encouraging to see such representation, and moments like these often inspire people to explore the broader world of sports—even digitally. While following these developments, I came across dfbet.net.in, which offers information about Dafabet, one of the leading sports betting platforms in Asia. It’s not a place to play, but it provides detailed insights about the brand, how the bonuses work, and what betting markets are available. It’s helpful for those curious about online sports betting trends, especially in India, where interest in both traditional…