Kolkata Eateries Facing LPG Shortages, Restaurants' Associations Fear Disruption in Operation

Amid the West Asia crisis, restaurants in Kolkata have started facing a shortage of commercial LPG, with industry associations warning of disruption in operations if the fuel supply is not normalised soon.

Industry representatives said the situation in Kolkata mirrors similar complaints from restaurants in cities such as Bengaluru and Chennai, where eateries have warned that they might have to halt operations due to dried-up LPG supplies.

According to the National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI), the sector is heavily dependent on commercial LPG, and any prolonged fuel supply disruption could force widespread closures.

Piyush Kankaria, head of the NRAI's Kolkata chapter, told PTI that the city has nearly 5,000 restaurants and a quick survey among members indicated that many establishments are already running out of cooking fuel.

"About 40 per cent of restaurants have indicated there will be immediate disruption, while another 30-40 per cent said they can run operations only for a few more days as they have limited stock," Kankaria mentioned.

He said the situation worsened as the supply of LPG cylinders to commercial establishments "completely dried up" on Tuesday.

"On Tuesday, there is no commercial LPG supply. Our central office is trying to seek government intervention to resolve the issue," he said.

The government has revised the priority for allocating domestically produced natural gas, giving the cooking gas and transport sectors first charge to meet their full requirements before supplies are made to other sectors to ensure an uninterrupted supply.

With the widening West Asia conflict disrupting energy supplies, the government has cut gas allocation to sectors like petrochemicals so that 100 per cent requirement of the fuel needed to produce cooking gas LPG, as well as CNG for automobiles and piped cooking gas to households, is met.

The NRAI has already written to Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, seeking urgent intervention to ensure the continued supply of commercial LPG cylinders to restaurants.

In its letter, the association said the restaurant industry, representing more than 5 lakh establishments across India with an annual turnover of about Rs 5.7 lakh crore and employing over 8 million people, is predominantly dependent on commercial LPG for daily operations.

Any disruption in LPG supply will severely impact the availability of food for citizens who depend on restaurants for their daily meals, including students, hostel residents and working people, it pointed out.

Sudesh Poddar, secretary of the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Eastern India, told PTI that the immediate concern for the hospitality sector is availability rather than price.

"We are more worried about availability at the moment and not so much about the price. Restaurants depend on uninterrupted LPG supply to run daily operations," Poddar said.

Industry sources said prolonged disruption could impact thousands of eateries and their employees in Kolkata's hospitality sector.

There are also thousands of small and roadside eateries that sell food to office-goers and daily wage workers at marginal profit, whose livelihoods may be at stake if the shortage persists.

Shankha Pal, a roadside food stall owner in Sector V, the IT hub of Kolkata, said the rising price and non-availability of LPG could force many small vendors to stop their businesses.