Chennai, March 10 Restaurants across Tamil Nadu are facing a bleak future, as existing stocks are expected to last only for one or two days due to a sudden shortage of commercial LPG cylinders, a result of the conflict in West Asia.
Some hotels and restaurants have already reduced the number of food items they offer to reduce LPG consumption.
Representatives of the Tamil Nadu and Chennai Hotels Association met with Chief Minister M K Stalin at the Secretariat here and requested his urgent intervention.
"Today, we met with the Chief Minister and informed him of the situation. It is not sustainable to continue operations under the current circumstances. He assured us that he would take it up with the Prime Minister and also with the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas... We hope the issue will be resolved soon," said M Ravi, Honorary President of the Tamil Nadu Hotels Association.
He ruled out the feasibility of operating hotels using traditional wood or coal, saying, "As an alternative, we can switch to commercial induction cooking, as the existing infrastructure does not allow us to use wood or coal. This would also cause pollution."
Asked whether the use of induction stoves would increase food prices due to power consumption, he replied that currently, hotels pay a 30 per cent surcharge during peak hours on electricity, and instead, they would pay GST charges.
"Currently, we pay 30 per cent for electricity during peak hours. Tamil Nadu is a state with surplus power production. In that case, they may allow us to use induction stoves. Second, by using induction stoves, we will pay GST charges (to the government) instead of the hefty 30 per cent charges," he said.
The hotel body also indicated that the shortage of commercial LPG cylinders would further impact the supply of vegetables, the payment of salaries to employees, and result in the suspension of production.
Earlier, commenting on the shortage of commercial LPG cylinders, Ravi told