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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 Sultans of Solapur

Updated: Oct 25, 2024

Sushilkumar Shinde

Sushilkumar Shinde’s recently released memoir reveals lesser-known and interesting facets of India’s political history and politicians as well as the social and political developments over the past five decades that Shinde has witnessed as a politician. Born to a cobbler in Solapur, Shinde rose to become India’s Home Minister, the chief minister of Maharashtra and the Governor of Andhra Pradesh during his 50 year-long political career.


 A law graduate from Kolhapur’s Shivaji University, Shinde began his professional life as a bailiff in a Solapur court and then joined the police force as a sub-inspector. But life had other plans. His senior by eight months, Sharad Pawar had urged Shinde to join politics. Which he did and later went on to occupy several high positions in the country.


 Shinde won elections to the legislative assembly from Solapur from 1974 and given his dedication to the party, was put in-charge of Sonia Gandhi’s election campaign in Amethi in 1999. Her thumping victory is said to have consolidated his close association with the Gandhi family and the Congress, a party he has stayed loyal to. On his party bosses’ insistence, Shinde had unsuccessfully contested the vice-presidential elections against the National Democratic Alliance’s candidate in 2002. In 2003, he became the first Dalit to occupy the post of the chief minister of Maharashtra after his predecessor Vilasrao Deshmukh resigned. Until then, political parties had stuck to members of the Maratha community as their chief ministerial picks given the caste structure in the state.


 After a stint as the Governor of Andhra Pradesh in 2004, Shinde moved to Delhi and became the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, was the Union Power Minister and even led the prestigious and sensitive Home ministry. His tenure as the country’s home minister saw two major decisions—the hanging of Afzal Guru and Ajmal Kasab.


 Affable and soft spoken, the light eyed politician from Solapur has friends across political parties and few foes. He shared a close rapport with Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray and continues to be friends with Pawar. His warm relationship with Vilasrao Deshmukh had apparently earned them the sobriquet of do hanson ka joda because each would recommend the other’s name for the state’s top job whenever the Congress was scouting for a change of guard in Maharashtra.


 While his two older daughters stayed away from public life, the former minister’s youngest daughter Praniti followed her father into politics, taking baby steps into public life with an NGO that worked with the women of Solapur. She won her first election in 2009 and has, since then, been a three-time legislator and first time MP from Solapur, a constituency nurtured by her father.

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