Bengaluru, March 18 Karnataka's Congress MLC Ivan D'Souza on Wednesday raised concerns in the Legislative Council over the shortage of commercial LPG cylinders, stating that the crisis has led to the closure of several hotels and disrupted the availability of food in many places.
D’Souza noted that the situation has affected even the Legislators’ House, where breakfast items such as idlis, dosas, and ambode were not available.
"If legislators themselves are not getting food at the Legislators’ House, what about the common people?" he asked, highlighting the seriousness of the situation.
D’Souza said that nearly 50 per cent of hotels across the state have reportedly shut down due to the shortage of commercial cooking gas. As a result, the public in many areas is unable to get breakfast.
He also pointed out that even government-run Indira Canteens, which provide food at subsidised prices, are facing difficulties in serving breakfast due to the shortage of LPG cylinders.
“Many of them have also shut down. The government must call hotel owners and stakeholders for a meeting and understand the ground situation,” he demanded.
Responding to the concerns, Food and Civil Supplies Minister K.H. Muniyappa said the government is aware of the situation and is trying to manage the limited supply of commercial LPG cylinders.
Referring to D’Souza’s remarks about the Legislators’ House, he said the government would provide commercial cylinders to meet part of its demand while the Assembly session is in progress.
"We will supply commercial cylinders to the Legislators’ House to meet about half of their requirement during the Assembly proceedings. We will not be able to provide more due to the prevailing shortage, but we will ensure that at least part of the demand is met,” the minister said.
Meanwhile, Bengaluru Hotel Owners’ Association's Honorary President, P.C. Rao, talking to the media, claimed that other states are receiving a higher supply of commercial LPG cylinders compared to Karnataka.
"In Mumbai, commercial gas is being supplied up to 50 per cent of the requirement. In Tamil Nadu, commercial gas is also being supplied. In Uttar Pradesh and Ayodhya, nearly 60 per cent of the required cylinders are being provided. No such trouble is being faced there as in Karnataka," he said.
Rao said that if only 1,000 commercial cylinders are distributed per day across the state, hotels would effectively receive only one cylinder per month.
"In Bengaluru city alone there are about 35,000 hotels. Even if 30,000 cylinders are supplied per month, it would not be sufficient even to cook food for the hotel staff," he said.
Rao said the association would raise further issues during its meeting with the government.
"Our question is this: when other states are not facing such severe problems with commercial gas, why is our state facing it? This needs to be verified and clarified. We are collecting details," he said.
He added that while other states are also facing some level of scarcity, hotels there have not shut down operations.
"In Chennai, none of the big hotels are closed. In Mumbai as well, hotels have not shut down. They have only reduced their menu and service timings. The level of supply there is not zero," he said.
Rao further said that governments in other states have not stated that they would completely stop supplying commercial LPG cylinders, as has been indicated in Karnataka.
"We are sending our representatives to different places. They have found that there is an issue with commercial cylinders even in Mumbai. We will see what facts the government presents before the court on Monday in this matter and comment later," he said.
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