Nagpur: The supply of commercial LPG cylinders for the hospitality sector in Nagpur resumed after nearly a month of disruption. Stakeholders claim the situation remains far from normal with demand surging sharply and operational challenges continuing to affect both consumers and gas agency owners.According to local gas distributors, oil marketing companies have restarted the supply chain for commercial cylinders, which was severely impacted over the past few weeks. The disruption left many hotels and eateries struggling to operate, forcing some to cut down services or explore alternative fuel arrangements.State president of LPG Dealers Association of India Bablu Tiwari confirmed to TOI about the resumption of supply but cautioned that the ground reality is still challenging. “We had been continuously demanding commercial cylinders from oil companies, and they have finally started supplying them. We are forwarding these cylinders to hotels, restaurants, and other establishments in the hospitality industry. However, due to panic buying, consumers who earlier asked for one cylinder are now demanding five,” said Tiwari.He pointed out that the situation has been aggravated by frequent changes in guidelines issued by OMCs. “We are facing an unprecedented crisis because of issues in the system of oil companies,” Tiwari said, adding that new rules being introduced every other day are disrupting smooth operations and forcing consumers to wait in long queues.While the supply of domestic LPG cylinders is said to have normalised, long queues are still being witnessed outside several gas agency offices and godowns across the city. Agency owners attribute this to both increased demand and procedural bottlenecks.A distributor, Mahendra Gavai, said that until recently, agencies were permitted to supply commercial cylinders only to hospitals. “However, the companies are now supplying commercial cylinders to us, which we can sell to restaurants and hotels. It is a positive step, but the supply remains limited,” he said.Gavai also flagged operational restrictions imposed by oil companies as a major concern. He noted that “long queues of citizens are seen because of unnecessary restrictions on our operations being implemented, including closure of their package in peak hours, by the oil companies”.Hospitality industry sources maintain that despite the ‘so-called’ resumption, the shortage of commercial cylinders has not been fully addressed. They stressed that unless supply is stabilised and made consistent, the hospitality sector will continue to face uncertainty in the coming weeks.
