Pune, March 10 Popular breakfast staples like dosa and uttapam may soon disappear from the menus of restaurants and eateries in Pune as they face a severe shortage of commercial LPG cylinders following a supply disruption triggered by the West Asia crisis, industry representatives warned on Tuesday.
Hotels and restaurants in the city are left with barely two to three days of LPG stock, and once the reserves run dry, a large number of establishments will be forced to close, leaving customers with little choice.
"Dosa and uttapam require more gas than most other dishes. If the supply of commercial LPG cylinders is not restored immediately, these items will simply go off the menu. We may be left serving only what we can manage with the limited fuel available," said Ganesh Shetty, President of the Pune Hoteliers' Association.
The government had issued the notification halting commercial LPG cylinder supply without taking the hospitality industry into confidence, leaving eateries in a lurch, he said.
"There was no prior consultation, no timeline given for normalisation of supply. The food industry cannot be forced to close down like this," Shetty said.
He pointed out that nearly 85 per cent of hotels and restaurants in Pune depend on commercial LPG for their daily operations. With the government offering no clarity on when supplies would resume, the situation was rapidly turning critical.
The crisis has already begun to bite in Bengaluru, where several hotels and restaurants have shut down following a similar supply squeeze, Shetty noted.
He urged the government to immediately introduce a rationing mechanism for commercial LPG so that at least partial operations could continue.
"We will curtail our menus, we will manage. But give us some supply. Switching to induction is the only alternative, and that cannot happen overnight. Using wood is not an option," Shetty said.
Customers visiting their favourite eateries may soon find a sharply reduced menu or, in many cases, locked doors - unless the government steps in urgently to restore the supply chain.
Ajinkya Udane, spokesperson of National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI) (Pune chapter), said the association has already written to the Centre seeking some relief.
"We are also writing to the state government and requesting them not to snap the commercial gas cylinder supply completely, instead the supply can be rationed so that the operations can continue to some extent," he said.
The US and Israel's attack on Iran and Tehran's retaliation have shut the Strait of Hormuz – the conduit through which India got 85-90 per cent of its LPG imports from countries like Saudi Arabia. As alternate sources are being scouted, the limited supplies available meant the government prioritising supplies to the domestic sector, and in the process, the commercial establishments have suffered.