‘No choice but to shut down’: With LPG cylinder supply hit, hotels in Bengaluru trim menus

His remarks came amid reports that from Monday, commercial LPG supply would be halted in a few places owing to the West Asia crisis.

Only coffee, tea

Ramesh Chandra, a hotel owner in Kengeri, said commercial cylinders have not been available for the second day in a row. “I have 4-5 cylinders left and will continue the operations till I finish the stock. At the same time, I am also making every effort to secure a cylinder supply. I do not know whether I will open the hotel tomorrow,” Chandra said.

He added that he requires 2-4 cylinders every day.

By Tuesday afternoon, some hotels had decided to trim their menus to serve only coffee and tea. Bangalore Thindi on Infantry Road, which typically sees heavy footfall for lunch and afternoon meals, posted that it would serve only beverages for the time being.

Rao told The Indian Express there was no supply of cylinders even on Tuesday. “We do not have any intention to close the hotel, but we are left with no choice but to shut down as there is no cylinder availability,” he added.

An employee at Lalitha Gas Agency said the extension of the waiting period to 25 days had prompted numerous panic calls from customers.

“We have stopped the supply of commercial cylinders as there is no supply. We are supplying domestic cylinders, but there have been many calls requesting them. We don’t have the shortage for domestic purposes now,” the employee said.

Dwarakeesh, another hotelier, said that he was even ready to buy the cylinder at a higher cost, but there was no supply. “I have stocks for another two days, but after that, I will have to shut down the hotel,” he added.

‘Any disruption to their functioning will have a direct impact on daily life’

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday wrote a letter to Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri to take action so that the commercial establishments can run their operations.

“Several hotels and restaurant associations in the city have reported that they are unable to procure commercial LPG cylinders, and many establishments are expressing concern that they may have to temporarily shut operations if supplies are not restored soon. Bengaluru has a large ecosystem of small restaurants, mess facilities, and catering units that serve lakhs of people every day,” he said in the letter.

“As per the discussions held with the Oil Marketing Companies, the State’s commercial LPG demand has been traditionally supported through supplies from the three OMCs—IOCL (around 500-550 MT per day), HPCL (around 300 MT per day) and BPCL (around 230 MT per day)—and the sudden disruption of this supply is now severely affecting hotels, catering establishments and other commercial users in Bengaluru,” he said.

“Any disruption to their functioning will have a direct impact on daily life in the city. This issue also affects a large number of students and working professionals who live away from their homes and depend on hotels and mess facilities for regular meals. In addition, choultries (wedding halls), hostels, and event venues that rely on commercial LPG for food preparation are also facing uncertainty, particularly with scheduled social and community events,” he added.

Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya also wrote to Puri, requesting adequate supply to commercial establishments.

Haveri MP Basavaraj Bommai said the LPG supply issue in the country would be resolved soon.

The former Karnataka chief minister said there is no shortage of petrol or diesel in the country, but LPG supply from Gulf countries has temporarily stopped. He said the supply is expected to resume shortly, and most of the issues are likely to be resolved within the next week.