MP faces LPG shortage, hotels, restaurants hit for 12 days:Operators present concerns to Additional Chief Secretary; decision expected tomorrow

The LPG crisis continues in Madhya Pradesh. Hotels and restaurants have not received commercial cylinder supply for 12 consecutive days. Regarding this, on Sunday, the National Restaurant Association of India Madhya Pradesh Chapter and Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India met with Additional Chief Secretary of Food and Civil Supplies Department, Rashmi Shami. Chief Secretary Shami spoke with operators on the holiday and also held a meeting with oil companies. It should be noted that while the oil companies’ new guidelines mention providing 10% commercial cylinders, supply orders have not been issued. Due to this, more than 50 thousand hotels and restaurants in the state are under crisis. They are on the verge of closing down. Bhopal Hotel and Restaurant Association President Tejkulpal Singh Pali said that the hotel business is on the verge of shutdown due to strict restrictions on commercial gas supply. Solutions were discussed regarding this. Demands were made to restore an uninterrupted gas supply, and a memorandum was submitted. NRAI representative Abhishek Baheti said that difficulties have increased due to the non-availability of commercial gas. In the absence of gas, hotel and restaurant operators are facing a major crisis. Demands have been made to resolve this issue. Problems in 2000 hotels in Bhopal
Association President Pali said that hotels, restaurants, dhabas, food services, etc., in Bhopal play an important role in job creation and the local economy, but they are facing major operational difficulties due to a lack of commercial LPG cylinders. They have demanded that a limited quota of commercial LPG cylinders be allocated to registered hotels and restaurants in Bhopal based on their actual operational requirements. Each establishment should be supplied with commercial LPG cylinders to maintain necessary kitchen operations and avoid disruption in food services. There are 2,000 hotels and restaurants in Bhopal where the situation has become serious. Central Government’s orders are not being implemented
Madhya Pradesh Hotel and Restaurant Association President Sumit Suri said that representatives of hotel organizations across the state claim that despite the Center’s supply order, no clear guidelines have been issued by the state government yet. Due to this, the local distribution system has come to a standstill. Suri said that we have placed our demands before the government and we hope that help will reach us as soon as possible. Millions of people’s employment is connected to the Hotel and Restaurant Association. Everyone is facing a crisis of livelihood. Same rules for all hotels not right
According to President Suri, the organization’s main demand is to increase the current 20 percent limit to 50 percent so that businesses can operate smoothly. Additionally, they have put forward a new proposal that there should not be uniform supply rules for all establishments. The gas quota should be determined based on the category of hotels and their demand. Larger establishments should be provided more gas according to their consumption, and smaller establishments should be provided with gas in proportion to their needs. Along with this, there is also a demand to increase the PNG supply according to requirements. These officials were present
NRAI representative Baheti said that the Principal Secretary has assured to provide gas to hotels and restaurants. He has also promised to take an appropriate decision by Monday. The delegation included Sachin Agarwal, Deepesh Motwani, Shrikant Singh, Amit Baheti, Garvit Agarwal, Sagar Gaire, Vishnu Sharma, Kush Manohar, Sapan Arora, Dinesh Dawar, Jastej Pali, and others were also present.