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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 Original Shiv Sainiks

Shiv Sainik

In the Marathi-majority area of Kherwadi in Bandra East, Shrikant Sarmalkar was the quintessential Shiv Sainik—a fiery street fighter who had participated in various morchas, was allegedly involved the violence that erupted in Mumbai during the 1992 riots and was the man who carried bullets in his body. He died in January this year following a prolonged illness which kept him away from the political spotlight for several years. His legacy is being claimed by two parts of his family—nephew Kunal Sarmalkar and son-in-law Hari Shastri, albeit on two sides of the Shiv Sena. Just like the Shiv Sena was split, the Sarmalkar family has also seen a political split, right in the backyard of Uddhav Thackeray’s home.


Sarmalkar’s brother’s son, Kunal, went with Shinde and is contesting the assembly elections from Bandra East, offering quite a challenge to Thackeray’s nephew Varun Sardesai. For the past few years, Kunal has been a widely visible face in the area, organising sports tournaments, funding Ganpati mandal celebrations especially in the areas of the Marathi-dominated Government Colony and Kherwadi. His wife Pallavi lends him able support by organising social and cultural events with women, adding soft power to his efforts at an electoral debut. On the other side of the family is Sarmalkar’s son-in-law Hari Shastri, an advocate by education who stayed back with the Thackeray faction.


Sarmalkar had participated in several street agitations that the Shiv Sena was famous for during Bal Thackeray’s times. He was among those who led the ‘chaddi morcha’ who protested outside the house of actor Dilip Kumar who was advocating the screening of the film, Fire, which showed same-sex relationships. The topic was taboo for the Shiv Sena at that time. Sarmalkar became a corporator in the municipal corporation in 1985 and continued to be in the BMC until 1992. In 1996, he contested the by-elections to the state legislature and won but lost the polls after that. The MLA from Kherwadi was popular for being accessible to the people and was recognised as the man who drove cars in Thackeray senior’s convoy and even provided him security. Back then, Thackeray took pride in saying that his ‘sainiks’ provided him with security. In 1987, Sarmalkar was shot by unknown assailants and while a few bullets were removed from his body, there was a bullet that stayed inside him. He quit the Shiv Sena with Narayan Rane in 2005 but returned to be with Uddhav Thackeray in 2011.


The Gen Next of the family is now working with both sections of the Shiv Sena in an attempt to claim the goodwill he enjoyed over the years.

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