Cooking gas shortage hits Hyderabad hostels, breakfast menus cut

Cooking gas shortages in Hyderabad hostels have forced the suspension of staple breakfast items and beverages. Hostels are switching to rice, upma, and poha, with some using induction stoves or firewood. Authorities are urged to prioritise gas supply.

Hyderabad: Roti, Dosa, Vada, Puri and Mysore Bonda, which are staple breakfast items, are off the menu as the cooking gas shortage hit kitchens of several hostels in Hyderabad amid ongoing US-Israel and Iran war. In fact, some hostels have even temporarily halted the serving of tea and coffee as their contingency plan to tide over the crisis.

According to Telangana IT Corridor Hostels Association president Amarnath Reddy, the ongoing war has disrupted gas supply to hostels in Hyderabad. There are around 11,000 hostels, accommodating nearly 1 million inmates. “Gas is like the lifeline for hostel operations. Due to the gas shortage, it has become challenging to provide breakfast and meals to residents,” he said.

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According to hostels, to reduce gas consumption and cope with the situation, several hotels have suspended food items that consume more gas or require longer preparation time until further notice. Doing away with curries that require time-consuming cooking and extra food items temporarily, hostels decided to serve rice and other basic meals until the situation improves.

“We have gas for the next couple of days. Like others, we are also planning to switch over to wood fire to cook food for the hostel inmates. Presently, we stopped serving food items that consume more time to cook and instead decided to serve items such as rice, upma, and poha,” said Raja Rao, who runs Sri Vani Men’s and Women’s Hostel in SR Nagar.

While several hostels have cut down the food varieties, some are making alternative arrangements, including setting up induction stoves or going back to traditional firewood, to cook food.

Reddy urged the Central and State governments to recognise the hostels as a priority sector and make alternative arrangements immediately to ensure adequate gas supply.