Capping on number of cylinders to be supplied by fuel companies through authorised dealers; owners of restaurants, bakeries, sweet stalls heave a sigh of relief

Mysore/Mysuru: Finally, the hoteliers, bakery and sweet stall owners in the city, are heaving a sigh of relief, with the resumption in supply of LPG commercial cylinders.

Ever since the US, Israel war against Iran began on Feb. 28, the hospitality industry in the country was the worst hit, with some of them shutting shops, with the disruption in supplies of LPG from the middle east, as most of the vessels including that of India, transport LPG through Strait of Hormuz, that comes in the jurisdiction of Iran. Now, recently two vessels belonging to India passed through Hormuz and reached the destination here, carrying over 92,000 tonnes of LPG.

However, it would take some more time for the normalcy in LPG supply chain to return. For now, the commercial cylinders are supplied to the consumers, albeit with riders. The consumers should apply in a prescribed format to the authorised dealers of fuel companies like IOCL, BPCL and HPCL, for a refill. Most importantly, they should provide GST number, PAN and license numbers, to avail the benefit. They are charged Rs. 2,400 per refill.

Subsequently, the LPG dealers will forward the application and documents to the fuel companies through online. The companies, after scrutinising the applications, are giving their consent, but with a capping on number of cylinders to be supplied to each consumer.

Blackmarket

On the other hand, the ease in LPG supplies, is expected to put a brake on black market. The LPG dealers who were receiving loads of cylinders, were selling the same through their  sub-dealers or agents, cashing in on the demand especially by the hotel industry.

The city alone requires an estimated 4,000 LPG commercial cylinders daily, with each hotel having a necessity of 5 to 8 cylinders per day.  Now, 2 to 5 cylinders are supplied to those consumers, who have stamp of approval from the companies, who operate through about 25 dealers here.

Hoteliers Assn.

President of Mysuru Hotel Owners Association C. Narayanagowda said, the supply of commercial cylinders to hotels has resumed, hinting at improvement in the situation, that had turned worse due to the ongoing war for the past one month. However, the Government has made it mandatory to obtain the service only through authorised dealers, so that the only respective consumers must benefit from the same.

LPG Dealers Association

President of State LPG Dealers Association Mehul J. Patel said, now only 30% of cylinders are being supplied to the hotel and other food industries, with the remaining 70% of supplies expected to resume next month. With this, the crisis will be resolved by the end of April.

Cooks skip work…

While the hoteliers are back in business, following the resumption of supply of LPG commercial cylinders, the worry over lack of staff, mainly cooks, remains to be addressed. When the crisis began, with the eateries resorting to cooking over traditional stoves using firewood, those cooks who lacked expertise in the same, abstained from work. The hoteliers had purchased huge quantity of firewood from the depots, due to the fear of losing business, but the workers who were used to cooking on gas stoves, stayed away from work.