Restaurants in Patna face temporary closure amid LPG shortage due to West Asia War

Restaurants are already beginning to feel the impact of the shortage. Biryani Mahal, which operates five outlets in the city, has scaled down its menu and temporarily shut down certain sections

Several restaurants and eateries across Patna are facing the prospect of temporary closure amid an ongoing shortage of 19-kg commercial LPG cylinders, which operators attribute to disruptions in liquefied natural gas shipments through the Strait of Hormuz due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

The Biryani Mahal in Patna (HT Photo)

The disruption prompted the Centre on Tuesday to invoke the provisions of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 to regulate the availability, supply and equitable distribution of petroleum products and natural gas. The move includes diverting natural gas supplies to priority sectors, triggering concerns among restaurant owners about erratic LPG availability and its impact on business.

Adding to the anxiety of consumers is a technical glitch in the LPG refill booking interactive voice response system (IVRS) over the past two days. Many consumers were unable to book refills through the automated system, forcing them to either use mobile applications or visit distributors in person.

LPG distributors suspect the IVRS server may have crashed due to panic bookings. However, Hindustan Times could not independently verify the cause of the technical snag, as senior officials at Indian Oil Corporation Limited’s Patna office did not respond to phone calls or text messages from this reporter.

“I kept trying the last two days to book an LPG refill through the IVRS, but did not succeed. Finally, I booked one in the name of my husband Saurabh Kumar through the IndianOil ONE mobile app last evening,” said Anupama Kumar, a homemaker residing in New Patliputra Colony. Her distributor is Akhand Jyoti Gas Agency.

Restaurants are already beginning to feel the impact of the shortage. Biryani Mahal, which operates five outlets in the city, has scaled down its menu and temporarily shut down certain sections.

“We shut down the section of rolls and Chinese food in a couple of our outlets while continuing to serve our main items, especially tandoori dishes that we specialise in,” said Babar Khan, proprietor of Biryani Mahal, which has outlets at Buddha Marg, Ashiana More, Kankarbagh, Saguna More and Sri Krishna Puri.

“Against our average requirement of seven commercial LPG refills per day, we received only three to four cylinders today with much difficulty. If the disruption continues and we don’t get LPG supplies, we will be forced to close our restaurants,” Khan added.

A similar situation looms over Basant Vihar and Bansi Vihar, two well-known eateries specialising in South Indian cuisine. Together, the two establishments consume around nine 19-kg commercial LPG cylinders daily.

“We will have to close our restaurant the day after if we do not get LPG supplies tomorrow. After many requests, we received our requirement of nine LPG refills this afternoon, but the distributor was skeptical about tomorrow’s supply,” said Ram Sudhar Singh, manager of Basant Vihar.

“We depend entirely on commercial LPG because induction tawas measuring 5x3 feet, required to prepare dosas, are unavailable in the market,” he added.

Ajay Kumar Singh, proprietor of SK Trading Company, an LPG distributor for Indian Oil Corporation Limited, said commercial LPG supplies had stopped for the past three days.

“The government of India has issued a gazette notification prioritising commercial LPG refills for educational institutions and hospitals. If oil marketing companies do not resume supplies, we will stop giving refills to hotels, restaurants and eateries,” Singh said.

He clarified that there was no shortage of domestic LPG cylinders. However, beginning March 8, the government increased the interval for booking a refill from 21 days to 25 days after the previous delivery. “Earlier, a consumer could get a maximum of two LPG refills a month, capped at 15 refills a year,” he added.

Gautam Bharadwaj, former proprietor of Safeway Gas Agency, said oil marketing companies were trying to increase supplies, but erratic deliveries and panic buying had worsened the situation for commercial users.

“The district administration should conduct raids to check the misuse of domestic LPG in commercial food outlets and regulate the supply of commercial cylinders so that domestic consumers are not affected,” he said.

Efforts to contact Indian Oil Corporation Limited officials, including Saurabh Chandra, chief general manager (LPG) for Bihar and Jharkhand, and Vineet Seth, area manager for Patna, proved futile as they did not respond to phone calls or text messages.