Middle East crisis: LPG shortage ripples across Chennai hostels, PGs and wedding halls; hospitals may feel pinch soon

CHENNAI: Commercial LPG shortage has had a ripple effect on corporate canteens, hostels, PGs and dining rooms in wedding halls. Managers of hospitals, and school and college canteens said it may not be long until they feel the pinch.

On Tuesday, hostels and paying guest accommodations were among the first to ration services. The Tamil Nadu IT Hostel and PG Owners Welfare Association, representing more than 15,000 facilities around Chennai, announced it would halt preparation of coffee, tea, chapatis and dosas to conserve fuel. “Dealers are charging more than ₹5,000/cylinder, up from around ₹2,000,” said association treasurer G Karthik.




To stretch resources, the group instructed members to skip full lunches, opting for variety rice paired with eggs or papads. Sides of tiffins will be chutneys instead of sambar or kurma.

Wedding caterers reported no immediate disruptions but braced for impact. “We are having discussions with customers and hall owners for upcoming events,” said Gnanambiga Catering managing director R Madhan. A single reception dinner, breakfast and muhurtham meal for 1,000 guests requires at least 10 cylinders, he said. While some modern kitchens are fully electric, traditional kitchens have just gas stoves.

Hospitals, so far, have not been affected. Rajiv Gandhi Govt General Hospital reported steady supplies and priority requests to distributors, according to dean Dr K Shantharam. Private chains echoed the stability — for now.

“We may feel the pinch soon,” said Apollo Hospitals CEO Dr Ilankumaran Kaliamoorthy. “Patient meals come first. We will serve attenders and hospital staff. We plan to simplify menus and pause outpatient counter sales if needed.”

Some other institutions are adapting. For instance, SIMS Hospital vice-president Dr Raju Sivasamy said the facility is shifting parts of its main kitchens to electric cooking to reduce reliance on gas.