Mumbai, April 1: The hotel industry in Mumbai is facing a crisis following disruption in LPG supplies caused by the Iran war. While some hotels have shut shop, others have drastically pruned their menu. In this context, Vijay Shetty, president, Indian Hotels and Restaurants Association, visited the FPJ office on Wednesday for an interaction. Excerpts:
The government has been saying that there is adequate stock of domestic and commercial LPG. Still, you say your industry is facing a big crisis. What is the exact situation?
The war began on February 28, and since then we are facing a shortage. We had meetings with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, State Food and Civil Supplies Minister Chhagan Bhujbal and Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, but the ground situation remains the same. If a hotelier was consuming ten cylinders per week earlier, now he is getting only one cylinder. We are getting far less than our actual requirement.
The implementation of government decisions is very poor. How do we run the business? How do we feed our employees? Across Maharashtra, there are five lakh hotels which provide direct employment to around two crore employees.
Minister Chhagan Bhujbal has said that the government has increased the quota by 20% for allotment of commercial LPG cylinders, specifically for the hotel industry. Has that not improved the situation?
As of today, ‘no’. The ground reality is totally different, and cylinders are not getting supplied. If we approach the gas agencies, they claim that they have not received directives from the oil marketing companies (OMCs). We need to meet Minister Bhujbal again.
Are you saying there is a communication gap between the petroleum ministry, OMCs and gas agencies?
I don’t know if it’s a communication gap or a deliberate plan, because hoarding of cylinders is going on, and black marketing is on. The price of a single 19-kg cylinder has soared up to Rs 6,000. We have brought this to the attention of the government as well, and are seeing a slight improvement since yesterday. Ours is the only industry that provides food, clothing and shelter to our employees, which is a huge task now. That is the reason many food outlets are partially operating or have curtailed their menus.
Some of the restaurants that run on piped gas are running normally. Didn’t you ask the government to ensure that restaurants are given PNG on a top-priority basis?
The government has told us that all restaurants will get PNG connections on priority. Mahanagar Gas is cooperating. But there are practical difficulties in laying pipelines.
The consumer commission has issued a circular stating that no restaurant should charge extra for gas. However, there are certain invoices floating on social media displaying Rs 12 – 15 as ‘gas charges.’
None of our hotels in Mumbai are applying ‘gas charges’. Definitely, some of them have hiked their prices on the menu, but no one is exclusively charging for gas. To the best of my knowledge, the videos circulating on social media were from Bengaluru.
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Minister Bhujbal has said that hotels can use kerosene stoves to cook. What do you have to say about that?
Kerosene stoves can pose safety problems, especially in a city like Mumbai where space is a major constraint. PNG is the safest.
Will your association be filing a petition in high court to ensure adequate energy supply?
We are not considering that option now. We are keeping our fingers crossed and hoping that supplies would improve.
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