Chandigarh Administration to restore 20% supply of commercial LPG cylinders

The food industry is likely to get some relief, as the UT Administration has decided to restore 20% of the normal supply of commercial LPG cylinders in the city.

According to officials, around 2,500 commercial LPG cylinders were supplied in the city daily earlier. It was temporarily reduced to nearly 500 cylinders per day, as the priority being given to essential services, including hospitals.

Apart from essential services, nearly 20% of the total stock of commercial cylinders would be supplied in the market, stated the officials.

The supply of domestic LPG cylinders also improved in the city, as stock of nearly 7,000 domestic cylinders was available today, said the officials. The city consumes 12,300 domestic cylinders daily. However, the companies were of late getting only about 4,000 cylinders a day.

The officials added that the functioning of the online booking system also improved. There was no shortage of domestic gas cylinders and people should desist from panic buying, they added. Due to failure of the online LPG booking system, long queues were witnessed outside several gas agencies in the city. People waited for hours to get a cylinder booked, as they feared that the ongoing war in the West Asia could lead to a severe shortage of fuel.

The impact of the shortage of commercial gas cylinders has started to deepen on the hotel and restaurant industry. Many hotels, clubs and dhabas in the city were left with LPG stock that would last only two to three days.

A hotelier said if the cylinders were not supplied soon, there would be no way but to lock the hotel. He said the business fell by over 50% in the past week.

Many restaurants and clubs in Sectors 26 and 7 on Madhya Marg are operating with limited resources. According to a restaurant operator, many outlets are being closed during the day as gas was not available. He said the industry had suffered huge losses during Covid and now the situation was getting worse again. To handle the situation, many hotels have shortened the menu and reduced the seating capacity.