Bengaluru: Karnataka’s Food and Civil Supplies Department is mooting a rather unusual measure to overcome the looming shortage of cooking gas supply—citizens should ‘give up one meal per week’. Invoking former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri’s call for skipping a meal during the 1965 food shortage, Karnataka Food & Civil Supplies Minister K.H. Muniyappa said Wednesday that such small measures would help mitigate the panic.
“When he (Shastri) was pained (by the food shortage), he said, ‘let’s do one thing: every Monday, let’s give up one meal. That is forgoing one meal per week. If this happens, then we won’t need corn and we can live’,” Muniyappa told reporters in Bengaluru Wednesday.
The minister’s statements come amid panic over commercial gas supplies across the country due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
“We should also learn from this (crisis)…to live with self-respect and avoid unnecessary use of resources,” Muniyappa said, urging consumers to exercise restraint while using LPG.
Restaurants, hotels and other commercial establishments in Chennai, Mumbai, Bengaluru and a number of other cities have already raised concerns about the looming shortage of cooking gas, warning that they would be forced to shut shop if the situation persists.
Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah too has written to the Centre, asking them to intervene.
Muniyappa said Karnataka utilises around 1,000 metric tonnes or 50,000 cylinders of commercial gas per day, while domestic connections in the state consume around 5,000 mt or 3.5 lakh cylinders per day. “Supply to commercial establishments…hotels, marriage choultries is a little difficult. We have to give first priority to domestic cooking and the others will have to adjust,” he added.
The minister also said the Government of India has prioritised domestic consumers over their commercial counterparts. The Centre has increased the minimum waiting period for booking a domestic gas cylinder (14.2 kg) refill from 21 days to 25 days.
However, most gas agencies across Karnataka and other places have witnessed people lining up to get hold of cylinders as panic continues to set in.
‘Crisis menu’
Muniyappa said Wednesday that the state government will hold weekly meetings with oil and energy company executives to review the situation. He added that supply to hospitals, educational institutions and hostels will remain unaffected.
In Bengaluru, several hotels wore a deserted look Wednesday with notices that only coffee and tea were available. Some pulled down their shutters. “Currently, all hotels are in a tough situation. All hotels are using their existing stocks but it is a tough situation,” Raghavendra Rao, co-founder and CEO of Rameshwaram Cafe, told ThePrint.
He added that they have two outlets in Bengaluru that use PNG connections and the situation for them is relatively better. At a single outlet, Rameshwaram Cafe, with a presence in Delhi and other cities, uses about 350-400 kg of gas per day, he said.
Meanwhile, Paying Guest (PG) accommodations in India’s IT capital too are facing the crunch. A large number of students and young professionals live in PGs across Bengaluru and its operators have raised concerns. Arun Kumar, president of the PG owners’ association said in a video statement Wednesday that the West Asia conflict and resultant panic has forced several of these establishments to overhaul their menu.
Terming it a “crisis menu”, he said several items that require cooking for longer periods have been discontinued temporarily due to commercial gas supply shortage. “We have already directed to all PG owners and we have taken a decision from the core committee to provide the food in the PGs and also provide solids like changes of some menu.”
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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