“It hurts to close kitchens…”: Delhi restaurant shuts amid LPG crisis; owner claims ₹5,000 black market rate

The ongoing LPG shortage is slowly starting to affect food businesses in several parts of India. Restaurants and street food vendors depend heavily on LPG cylinders to run their kitchens every day. But with supply becoming difficult in recent days, some businesses say they are struggling to continue their regular service.One such case has come from South Delhi, where a restaurant owner says he had to shut his kitchen after running out of LPG cylinders.Tadka Rani, a North Indian restaurant in South Delhi, has temporarily stopped operations because LPG cylinders are no longer available. The restaurant’s owner, Gagandeep Singh Sapra, shared the update on X and said the restaurant could not continue its kitchen operations without LPG. Sapra said the shortage has made it very difficult for restaurants to get cylinders through regular supply.“We are shutting down too now - gas is finished, black marketeers are now asking for 5000+++ for gas cylinders,” Sapra said in an X post.A few hours later, he posted another update saying that the restaurant had also been taken offline from food delivery platforms.“It is hurting me to close kitchens from service, and select the option ‘Closed due to LPG Shortage’,” said Sapra. “Tadka Rani is offline guys, we will soon be back, apologies that we can't serve you.”Sapra also claimed that some traders are asking around ₹5,000 for a single LPG cylinder in the black market.For comparison, the official price of a 19 kg commercial LPG cylinder in Delhi is ₹1,884.50, as mentioned in a report by the Hindustan Times. Because of this sharp difference in price, some restaurants say it has become difficult to continue normal kitchen operations.Disclaimer: This article is based on information shared on the social media platform X. The views expressed are those of the individual user, and The Times of India has not independently verified the claims.Thumb image: Canva (for representative purposes only)