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Bengaluru PG owners body hold meeting to deal with LPG crisis
Bengaluru's PG Owners Association warns of food shortages due to LPG supply disruptions, urging government action to avoid a crisis for residents.
The PG Owners Association in Bengaluru on Tuesday called an urgent meeting to discuss the way forward if the prevailing LPG supply disruption continues, people aware of the matter said.
“Tens of thousands of professionals and students, staying in paying guest accommodations, rely on hotels for food. With the shutdown, they will have to fend for themselves,” said Arun Kumar DT, president of the PG Owners’ Welfare Association.
“We can run our kitchens for about a week at most, but after that food supply will likely be hit. The government must find a solution to this crisis. Food is served three times a day and residents also require hot water almost daily. The LPG shortage will hit us hard,” he added.
To conserve gas, some PG operators said they were considering restricting residents from cooking individually in shared kitchens, a practice owners say leads to higher fuel consumption. Owners are also discussing limiting the variety of dishes prepared each day and replacing multi-item menus with simpler meals that require less cooking time. Another proposal under consideration is reducing the number of meals served daily from three to two if the shortage persists.
The situation comes amid warnings from the Bruhat Bengaluru Hotels Association that thousands of hotels could shut down starting Tuesday due to an abrupt halt in the supply of commercial LPG cylinders. The association said the development runs counter to an earlier assurance from oil companies that supply would remain uninterrupted for at least 70 days. If hotels suspend operations, the impact could extend to residents of PG accommodations, many of whom depend on nearby eateries for food in addition to what is served in their residences.
Bengaluru is estimated to have about 15,000 PG establishments housing more than 1 million residents, including professionals working in the city and blue-collar labourers. Most of these facilities provide three meals a day for residents.
