NEW DELHI: At an old age home in Asola Mehrauli, dinner is usually a quiet, reassuring routine for inmates. Food is served on time, medicines are handed out, and conversations drift till it is bedtime.On Monday, though, the rhythm was suddenly disrupted. Around 42 people, over 85 years old, were served only bread and fruit after the kitchen ran out of cooking gas. The disruption, highlighted in a post on X by the home’s owner, Pravesh Jain, points to an alleged shortage of LPG cylinders that has left the facility waiting for supplies that are yet to arrive. Jain wrote, “Agent doing black marketing and wants Rs 3,200 a cylinder. I have asked my manager to wait till tomorrow or else buy gas from the open market.”A representative of one of the LPG suppliers told TOI that the old age home has been using domestic cylinders since its inception. “Jain should have applied for a connection under the institutional (exempted) category, which covers old age homes and other non-profit institutions, and is not subject to the 25-day booking rule currently in place for domestic connections,” he said, adding that the old age home’s connection provides the address of a household, and not an institution. “We always ask people running such facilities to be aware of the categories while applying for gas connections.”Jain said the home received a cylinder from a company on March 3 and from another on March 11. “Since then, the 25-day rule has affected us directly. We have relied on domestic cylinders for 26 years without facing any issues, and no one earlier clarified under which category to apply,” he told TOI.The representative of the LPG supplier explained the categorisation. “Typically, LPG connections fall under three heads: domestic; commercial, primarily for hotels and retail outlets; and institutional.”In a subsequent post, Jain wrote: “I received a call from a company official suggesting we register the connection under the exempted list for trusts. He was polite and willing to help, but if no other option remains, we may be forced to buy cylinders from the open market.”His posts drew an immediate public response. One user offered: “Sir, I can arrange one (cylinder) if you are okay,” while another suggested he could help him get a PNG connection.Jain said the facility, which doesn’t accept private donations, gifts or govt aid, supports elderly people who have nowhere else to go. “Many of our inmates have been abandoned, some have lost their partners and others have children living abroad. We provide them with everything free of cost — from meals to medical care and clothing. That’s what makes the delay in getting LPG cylinders so difficult to bear,” he added.
