Commercial LPG shortage hits autos, hotels in Hyderabad

Shortage of commercial and auto LPG in the city is affecting auto rickshaw services and the hotel industry. With restricted supply, eateries are switching to firewood while auto drivers queue at government outlets to avoid higher fuel prices.

Hyderabad: Shortage of commercial LPG and Auto LPG in the city continues to affect the public transport, such as auto rickshaws and cars and the hotel industry.

The problems for both these sectors started a month ago, following the Iran – Israel, United States conflict, and since then, there has been no respite.

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While several short-term eateries and tea kiosks remain closed, some others have partially switched over to firewood for cooking biryani, mandi, nihari and curries. “We are preparing food on firewood as the commercial LPG supply is restricted. Don’t know how long we have to deal with the problem. Our business is getting affected, the profit margin has come down,” said an owner of a hotel.

The short supply of commercial LPG has complicated matters for a majority of the hotels. “Only hotel owners who are well connected with LPG distributors are managing to get a few cylinders; others have to struggle with firewood stoves. The masters (cooks) are complaining of health issues due to constant exposure to smoke,” said Mohd Niaz, manager of a hotel at Bahadurpura.

A roadside tiffin centre owner, Mohd Viqar, said they were forced to increase the price by Rs 10 on all items due to the restricted supply of commercial LPG cylinders. “In the grey market, an LPG cylinder costs Rs 3500 each,” he said.

The auto drivers are in a dilemma over the Auto LPG gas pricing. At government-owned entities such as Bharat Petroleum and Indian Oil, the gas is dispensed around Rs 90 a litre, while at private company outlets it is sold for a price between Rs 120 and Rs 130 a litre.

Long queues are witnessed at the gas dispensing stations in different parts of the city where the prices are lower. “Passengers are not willing to pay more fares. So we cannot line up at the gas dispensing stations offering Rs 125 a litre, no matter its time-consuming task, we are waiting at government-owned gas dispensing stations,” said Santosh P, an auto driver from Vanasthalipuram.