‘If we don’t get gas, how will the business run?’: Ahmedabad’s eateries feel the pinch of LPG shortage

“We cannot keep switching the gas on and off for one or two orders,” he said, adding that he is exploring induction cooking and electric tawas.

For small vendors operating on tight margins, the situation is particularly difficult.

Vinod Kumavat, who opened his stall just weeks ago, said customers had already walked away when gas ran out briefly.

“For about one or two hours we had no gas and customers left,” he said.

Street vendors say an LPG cylinder typically lasts two to three days depending on customer volume, making continued shortages difficult to manage.

In Ahmedabad’s Bhatiyar Gali near Teen Darwaza, known for its Mughlai food, crowds are thin even though it is the holy month of Ramzan.

“This is usually our best earning season,” said Mohammad Naid, who runs a stall in the area. “But now not only do the gas cylinders cost around Rs 2,000, sometimes you cannot even find them.”

Naid said the shortage has already forced several vendors to shut down temporarily, and he is now on his last LPG cylinder.

“At least eight to ten businesses I know have closed,” he said. “If they cannot get a cylinder, how will they cook? Without gas the business simply cannot run.”

At Happy Street, a street food lane that runs past midnight, vendor Rahul said his business has already fallen by about 15 per cent.

On Wednesday morning, Ajay Yadav, a street food vendor in Law Garden, first went looking for an LPG cylinder before buying vegetables or preparing ingredients for his food stall near Law Garden.

“I went to five or six agencies since morning but couldn’t find a single cylinder,” said Yadav, who has run the stall for nearly two decades. “If we don’t get gas, how will the business run?”

Meanwhile, vendor Uday Singh said he recently paid Rs 1,500 for what he described as “half a cylinder”.

“A plate here is Rs 70. If tomorrow I charge Rs 80, will people come? They will just go somewhere else,” Singh said.

Across Ahmedabad’s restaurants and street food markets, eateries that depend on LPG say supply has tightened sharply in recent days. The shortage has pushed up prices and forced some businesses to cut menu items, slow operations or look for alternatives such as electric cooking and coal-fired stoves.

Magan Patidar, who runs Mahadev Rajwadi in the Thaltej area — part of a chain of tea stalls in Ahmedabad — said the cost of commercial LPG cylinders has nearly doubled within days.

“Earlier it was around Rs 1,800 or Rs 1,900. Now they are quoting Rs 2,500 or Rs 3,000, and some are even asking for Rs 4,000,” he said.

Patidar said his restaurant currently has one spare cylinder left that should last about four to five days.

Rajendra Pandey of Priya Gas, an agency that supplies commercial vendors including restaurants and hotels in the Thaltej, Memnagar and Sola Road areas, said there was a “demand and panic” situation but denied any illegal sales.

“Commercial supply has been restricted,” he said, referring to temporary limitations affecting certain commercial allocations.

“Since the agencies themselves have not received commercial stock from the companies, there is simply no supply to divert to the black market,” he said.

Another agency, Krishiv, which supplies residential households in the Ghatlodiya and Naranpura areas, denied that any black marketing was possible.

“We are not allowed to give a cylinder without the Delivery Authentication Code, so the question does not arise,” a representative said.

Some other LPG agencies also acknowledged supply pressures, though most declined to speak in detail.

Bilal Shaikh, owner of ZK Restaurant, said the kitchen has begun using coal for certain preparations to reduce dependence on LPG.

“It is a temporary arrangement to keep the daily cooking running,” Shaikh said. “If the situation continues, we may have to shift completely to coal.”

Coal-based vendors say they have remained largely unaffected.

“I use coal so I don’t face this problem,” said Mohammad Kasim, another vendor. “But many restaurants are struggling. It feels like people may return to coal.”

For many small food businesses operating day to day, survival now depends on the next refill.

At Jay Mahadev Enterprise, a staff member said there was a shortage and prices had increased by about Rs 400–Rs 500, adding that they had been instructed to prioritise domestic consumers.

“We are being instructed to give cylinders to domestic customers first, before commercial ones,” he said.

(Nishant Bal and Aryan Matthews are interns at The Indian Express, Ahmedabad.)