In a letter to the Centre on Monday, the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) stated that any disruption to LPG cylinder supply will lead to a “catastrophic closure” of restaurants.
This comes amid reports of commercial LPG supply being halted in areas owing to the West Asia conflict.
The Bengaluru Hotels Association, in a release on Monday, reportedly said hotels in the city will be closed due to shortage of gas supply.
“Around 25-30 hotels in the city are impacted as suppliers have stopped supply of direct gas to establishments. We have written to the Central government about this but to no avail,” an official at the Association told Business Standard.
However, independent hotels and restaurants that Business Standard spoke to said they will remain open on Tuesday.
Prices of commercial LPG cylinders were hiked by ₹115 earlier this month.
In a letter to Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Puri, the body stated that the restaurant industry highly depends on commercial LPG for its operations.
“Any disruption, therein, will lead to a catastrophic closure of majority of restaurants. This, in turn, will have a severe negative impact on citizens for non-availability of food for their daily meals,” the letter stated
It reiterated that food supply is an “inescapable essential service, which was identified even during Covid lockdowns.”
A copy of the letter is set to be sent to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Referring to an order from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, which reportedly directs all public sector oil companies to ensure that LPG is supplied/marketed solely to domestic consumers, the NRAI stated that suppliers across the country “have indicated that the supply of commercial LPG cylinders to restaurants would therefore be stopped.”
On March 5, the Centre asked refiners to maximise LPG production for domestic consumption.
The body, which represents over 500,000 restaurants across the country, urged the minister for continued support through sustained supply of commercial LPG cylinders.
“This will ensure business continuity and availability of food for citizens,” the NRAI added in the letter.
The restaurant industry is the third largest after retail and insurance in the services segment. It has an annual turnover of ₹5.7 trillion and provides direct employment to over 8 million people.
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