Noida: As the LPG supply strain continues to show in disruptions to daily life for people most dependent on gas cylinders, help is coming in from those who have not been touched by the problem, consumers of PNG.Several housing societies in Noida have started taking initiatives to provide cooked meals to their support staff, and residents are doing the same for domestic helpers, to help them tide over the shortage of gas cylinders that has left them with limited or no access to a fire in the kitchen. Long queues continued on Saturday outside gas agenciesIn Forest Spa Society in Sector 93, Shruti Sharma said both her home helps had run out of gas days earlier. Both live in nearby Gejha village and said they had been unable to secure a refill despite booking one four days earlier. “I have a PNG connection, so cooking is not a problem for us,” Sharma said. “When my house helps told me that their cylinder finished and the gas agency in their area shut its doors, I asked them to cook in my kitchen and take food home for their families. They work long hours and support entire families. If they cannot cook at home, things become very difficult,” she said.Similar efforts are emerging in Greater Noida too. At Tata Steel Officers Enclave, a residential complex, the apartment owners’ association began distributing cooked meals to society staff, including guards, electricians, and plumbers. Sukendra Yadav, the association’s president, said the initiative was started after residents realised how widespread the problem had become among workers living in nearby villages.“Many of the guards and maintenance staff told us their LPG cylinders were empty, and they had no way of getting a refill,” Yadav said. “We started arranging cooked food from within the society and also sent messages to residents requesting them to help their house helps in whatever way they could.”For Shilpi, who lives in Gejha village and works as a domestic helper in several flats at a nearby highrise, securing a cylinder has become increasingly difficult as the gas agency serving her locality has remained closed for days. “We have to stand in line to make a physical booking. I have been trying for four days and still have not been able to get one,” she said.Nisha, another resident of Gejha, said some workers had begun leaving the city because they could no longer cook at home. “In the rented homes, we cannot cook on a chulha,” she said, referring to traditional wood-fired stoves. “At least in our native villages, we can cook on one. So, some of my neighbours have taken leave from work and gone back.”Residents in several housing societies said their support staff, most of whom are migrant workers, have started leaving for their hometowns.Rajiva Singh, a resident of Sector 50, said his domestic helper recently returned to her village after struggling to feed her family in the city. “She said she cannot manage here without gas and will come back once the LPG problem is solved,” Singh said.
