West Bengal rolls out SOP to tackle LPG shortage amid West Asia conflict

State sets up 24x7 LPG control room and helplines as shortages hit schools, hospitals, restaurants and temples amid supply disruptions linked to the West Asia conflict

The government of West Bengal on Thursday rolled out a standard operating procedure (SOP) to tackle the Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) shortage, even as schools, temples, community kitchens, restaurants and state-run hospitals have already started to feel the heat amid the ongoing West Asia conflict, which has disrupted Liquefied natural gas shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.

LPG shortage disrupts mid-day meals, hospitals and eateries in West Bengal. (Representative photo)

The SOP includes setting up of a 24x7 LPG control room at the state secretariat, a committee headed by the state’s chief secretary to review the situation and stabilise the supply chain, strengthening logistics to ensure uninterrupted supply, designated public helplines, alternative fuel support and a real-time monitoring dashboard.

“This SOP is issued to guide coordinated monitoring, stabilise supplies and facilitate immediate redressal of public grievances. It aims to ensure continuity of critical public services such as cooked mid-day meals in schools, ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services), hospital diets and essential domestic consumption,” the SOP read.

This came a day after chief minister Mamata Banerjee held an emergency meeting with oil manufacturing companies and top officials of the state administration and police on Wednesday.

The control room numbers are 1070, 033-22143526 and 8697981070. The public helpline numbers are 033-49506101, 033-35026214 and 033-24874400.

Meanwhile, mid-day meals in several schools across the state were hit.

“In the present global situation, an acute shortage of LPG cylinders is being faced in several schools under the PM POSHAN (Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman) scheme. It has been observed that some LPG distributors are not supplying cylinders in time and are creating a crisis in the supply chain. Due to this irregular and inadequate supply of LPG cylinders, the cooking of mid-day meals in schools is being seriously hampered,” the officer-in-charge of the PM POSHAN scheme in Hooghly district wrote in a letter to the project director in West Bengal.

While some schools have curtailed the menu and have started serving only khichdi to children in their mid-day meals, others have started cooking on earthen ovens with wood.

“Since yesterday we have made an earthen oven inside the school compound on which the cooking is being done. We are using wood. The gas cylinder has almost become empty and we don’t know when it will be refilled,” Roop Bhattacharya, a teacher at Banashurua High School in Bankura, which has around 800 students, told HT.

Around 7.5 million schoolchildren in West Bengal are served mid-day meals every day.

Some of the top and popular restaurants in Kolkata have also arranged for wood and charcoal as an alternative to LPG.

“The distributors are not being able to supply. We arranged two commercial LPG cylinders at exorbitant rates. We are cooking the biriyani on a charcoal oven instead of an LPG oven. Earlier we used to cook the biriyani in small handis (50 plates in one small handi) on LPG ovens. But as the charcoal and wood oven takes much longer time, we are cooking in large handis and preparing 80–90 plates in one go,” the manager of a popular biriyani restaurant chain in Kolkata said.

Joint secretary of the Darjeeling Hoteliers’ Association Sachep Pradhan said, “Non-availability of commercial gas has started affecting the tourism industry in Darjeeling hills. As most of the hotels do not keep adequate stock of gas, we will be forced to limit our menu unless normalcy is restored.”

With the wedding season on, caterers have asked customers to curtail the menu.

“On Thursday I had an order from a wedding house to cook for around 280 guests. I have one cylinder which is full and another which is half. As a standby I have kept some wood and a makeshift earthen oven ready. I have managed the cylinders from a friend and have promised him to return the two within a week. For the next few orders lined up over the next few days, I have asked customers to curtail the menu,” said Ashish Debnath, who runs a catering business in east Kolkata.

Cooks working at the kitchen of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, a state-run hospital in Kolkata, said that with the supply of commercial LPG cylinders hit, they are now managing the crisis with domestic cylinders.

“Around 1200–1250 meals, mostly for patients, are cooked three times a day – breakfast, lunch and dinner. But we are not getting the commercial cylinders. We are now relying on domestic cylinders. We need at least 20 commercial cylinders every week. The next date of delivery is Friday. We don’t know what will happen and hence we have arranged some domestic cylinders,” said an employee.

Authorities of the Tarapith Temple Committee said that if the crisis is not solved soon, the distribution of bhog to devotees could be hit.

“There is not enough LPG left. We have started using wood, charcoal and cow dung cakes. But it is going to take a heavy toll on the bhandaras (free kitchens). We will have to stop them,” Taramoy Mukherjee, one of the officials of the temple committee, told the media.

Maa Canteens, the Trinamool government-run subsidised community kitchen service for the poor, were affected at some locations.

“At least 300 people come here each day to have lunch for ₹5. We told the local municipal authorities that we don’t have LPG cylinders. Our kitchen had to be shut down on Thursday morning,” Sunanda Pujari, the supervisor of the Maa Canteen at Basirhat in North 24 Parganas district, said.