LPG Cylinder Short Supply: Bengaluru Hotels May Face Shutdown Soon

Bengaluru, March 10: The hotels in Bengaluru have been facing severe short supply of LPG cylinders owing to the war in the Middle East, forcing them to mull closing their businesses till the normalcy in the supply of cylinders is restored.

“On Monday, only 20% of cylinders were supplied against the demand. As a result, most of the hotels in Bengaluru could not do their normal business. If the situation continues like this, we will have to shut all hotels till the time the situation returns to normalcy,” Veerendra Kamat, general secretary, Bengaluru Hotels Association, told ETV Bharat.

He also denied the reports that all hotels in Bengaluru will be shut from tomorrow owing to a lack of supply of LPG cylinders. “It is only a concern. Without LPG cylinders, how will hotels run? Not that all hotels will be shut from tomorrow itself. But the situation continues like this, there is no way but to shut hotels,” he said.

Earlier in the day, hotel owners held a press conference and expressed their concerns about the checkered supply of commercial LPG cylinders. “Starting Monday, there has been a huge shortage in the supply of commercial LPG cylinders. As a result, most of the hotels, bakeries, tea stalls and canteens attached to PGs and hospitals have borne the brunt. The government must immediately step in and solve this issue. If not, the food industry (across the country) will have to suffer,” said PC Roy, president of Bengaluru Hotels Association.

The association said that oil companies had claimed that there would not be any shortage in gas supply for 70 days. But the sudden stoppage of gas supply during the 10 days of the war has shocked the industry. The government must immediately intervene and restore the supply of LPG cylinders, he added.

The shortage in supply has led to black marketing of cylinders too. GK Shetty, president, Bengaluru Hotel Owners Association, said cylinders are being sold in the black market at extremely high prices by some. “The price of commercial LPG has already increased by around ₹115, while the distributor discount has dropped from ₹150 to just ₹65. In several places the cylinders are simply not available, and hoteliers are being forced to pay an additional ₹500 to ₹600 per cylinder through unofficial channels. This situation is putting enormous pressure on the entire hotel industry,” he said.