Mumbai, March 13 Congress leaders MLAs Nana Patole and Vijay Wadettiwar staged a protest on the premises of the Maharashtra legislature here on Friday, alleging a shortage of domestic LPG and demanding immediate intervention by the government.
Wadettiwar, who is also the Congress legislature party leader in the assembly, claimed that people across the state were facing severe hardship due to an "shortage" of LPG cylinders amid the conflict in West Asia.
While the government claims there is no shortage of LPG, the reality is that people are standing in long queues for cylinders and several hotels have shut down operations, he told reporters.
"The Centre has completely surrendered on this issue because of the Epstein file and has failed to address the problem. The Union government has bowed before the United States," he said.
The legislator said Congress has launched protests at the taluka level across the state against the situation and urged the government to resolve the crisis at the earliest.
Wadettiwar and Patole carried a cut-out of a domestic LPG cylinder and raised slogans.
Patole said that many students who live in cities for education are now forced to return to their villages due to the LPG shortage.
The US-Israeli war with Iran has led to the "shortage" of petroleum products, including LPG cylinders, said Wadettiwar.
"State officials claim there is no shortage of domestic LPG cylinders. If that is the case, why are many hotel operators shutting down services or rationing food items? Small food joint operators are unable to run their businesses, affecting their livelihood," he said.
He also claimed that black-marketing of LPG cylinders was rampant and accused the Union and state governments of not taking action against it.
"We want a clarification from the state government about the current status of LPG cylinders," Wadettiwar added.