Chennai, Mar 10 (PTI) Restaurants across Tamil Nadu are staring at a bleak future with existing stock expected to last only for one or two days due to a lack of commercial LPG cylinder supply amid the West Asia conflict, hoteliers said on Tuesday.
Some of the hotels and restaurants have already cut the number of food items offered in order to reduce the LPG use, officials said.
“It is like a second COVID-19-enforced lockdown for us. We are cutting down on the usage of LPG cylinders. We have reduced the number of food items. For Dosa, tea or coffee, the stove should be receiving LPG supply non-stop. We have cut the number of items now and are providing food only in limited numbers,” the chairman of a popular restaurant chain told PTI on condition of anonymity.
To a query, he said, “We expect to run for one or two days with existing stock. If there is no supply of the commercial LPG cylinders, we have no other go than to close down operations. COVID-19 lockdown-like situation returning.” Meanwhile, Sri Ananda’s another popular hotel in Chennai had displayed in the menu on Tuesday that due to a lack of supply of commercial LPG cylinders, food items have been largely reduced to limited numbers.
“All these days, we were operating without any crisis in LPG cylinder supply. Today, we have cut down on the list of food items offered to reduce the usage of LPG cylinders. We have stopped preparing fried rice, side dishes, and appam as these items require more LPG. We do not know how long this (supply crisis) will continue,” an official said.
The Tamil Nadu Hotels Association, a body representing the hotels and restaurants in the State, on March 7, appealed to the Centre to withdraw its order instructing oil marketing companies to suspend commercial LPG cylinders.
On March 6, the government invoked, sparingly used emergency powers to direct oil refineries to ramp up LPG production to increase the availability of domestic cooking gas to avoid potential disruptions due to the widening West Asia conflict.
On March 7, the prices of domestic LPG and commercial cylinders were hiked by Rs 60 and Rs 114.5, respectively. PTI VIJ VIJ ADB
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