West Asia unrest triggers LPG crunch, Chennai hotels warn of shutdown if supplies don’t resume

Nationwide LPG crunch, fuelled by unrest in West Asia, has left several hotels and eateries in the city scrambling, with many saying they may shut on Tuesday night if supplies do not resume. Dealers from oil companies such as Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd cut supply or turned down urgent requests for commercial LPG cylinders — sizes weighing 19kg to 47.5kg.

The president of Chennai Hotels Association messaged Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday to press for govt intervention and restore uninterrupted supply. Representatives reached out to chief minister M K Stalin as well on Tuesday.




“There are more than 10,000 hotels in the city. We work round the clock and need continuous supply of gas cylinders for uninterrupted service,” said association president M Ravi.

Industry experts estimated small eateries consumed three to five 19kg commercial cylinders daily. Mid-sized hotels with 100-200 seating capacity required at least five to 10 cylinders weighing 21kg to 47.5kg every day, while three-star and five-star properties, offering boarding and lodging, guzzled at least 20.

“We can’t stock up cylinders for months. Like domestic consumers, we return empty cylinders for refill,” said Ravi, who headed Namma Veedu Vasantha Bhavan. “Most hotels will run only till midnight tonight if help doesn’t arrive. Some have enough stock till Wednesday,” he said.

Some hotels continued receiving cylinders, but supply has dwindled. Sangeetha Veg Restaurants designated partner P Rajagopal said all branches will temporarily scale down services.

“Most of Sangeetha’s hotels require at least 10 47.5kg cylinders. We get just four per restaurant now,” he said.

Over the past few days, cylinder prices rose by ₹35/kg, raising operating costs. To tide over the crisis, the hotel will close after breakfast and reopen for lunch.

By noon, many hotel chains held internal emergency discussions to limit menus, slash operating hours and pivot to electric devices for dishes such as rice and idlis. Adyar Ananda Bhavan already cut back on tandoor ovens and other North Indian dishes.

“Some of our restaurants will use electric cooking setups,” said director Vishnu Shankar V. Firewood furnaces have been ruled out as most chefs and kitchens are not equipped to handle them.

Hotels also announced limited hours for dosa and poori.

“For these dishes, the stove stays on till the last customer to maintain cooking temperature. At least three burners run for the dosa tawa,” said Sangeetha Veg Restaurants designated partner P Suresh.

Then, there is the problem of confirmed banquet bookings for various events, such as weddings.

“We have an event tomorrow for 300 guests. We haven’t told them about the crisis or how we’ll deliver,” said a hotel owner anonymously.

Hoteliers called this situation worse than Covid-19 lockdowns.

“We had govt, hospital orders then,” Suresh said. “Now, we may have to shut down. Sangeetha pays ₹20 lakh daily salaries to staff. How do we generate ₹6 crore a month without revenue? We don’t know when this crisis will end, but normalcy seems distant,” he said.

(With inputs from Oppili)