NEW DELHI: Instead of spending his mornings coordinating supplies and supervising preparations for large orders, Rajesh Aswal now finds himself chasing LPG cylinders across the city. The 40-year-old Mahipalpur-based caterer says his kitchen is running on uncertainty due to the ongoing LPG shortage.“People have wedding menus planned six months beforehand. Unlike restaurants, we don’t have the privilege to say no to items,” said Aswal, in the business for nearly two decades.
Caterers across the city told TOI that the shortage, triggered by the West Asia crisis, has sparked panic similar to the Covid lockdown. While some have scaled down operations, others are resorting to desperate measures to keep their kitchens running.A west Delhi-based caterer said he had been forced to buy cylinders in the black market at nearly double the official price. “Sellers know we are desperate and they are taking advantage of it,” he said, adding that some of his associates have temporarily shut operations. To cope with the spike in fuel expenses, many caterers are cutting budgets elsewhere, including limiting staff at events, he said. “We only keep employees who are necessary, but there isn’t much to reduce.” Another 50-year-old caterer said he had begun burning wood to complete orders. “If it comes down to our livelihood, we have to choose options we know may add to pollution,” he said. “Items like biryani and chhole are difficult to manage on makeshift stoves,” he rued. Aanya Sharma, a 25-year-old who runs a catering service across Delhi-NCR with her father from Faridabad, said it had been nearly 10 days since they had received a cylinder. “We know that some people have been hoarding. It has become a huge problem for those in genuine need,” Sharma said.The ripple effects of the shortage are also being felt by small tiffin operators. Prince Kumar, a 34-year-old dabbawala who delivers meals across south Delhi, said a backup cylinder had kept his service afloat for now, but barely. “As the gas reduces, I’m refusing new orders so that I can complete the ones I already have,” he said, expressing anxiety about what will happen once the reserve runs out.With gas cylinders becoming increasingly difficult to secure, many small businesses are turning to induction stoves as an alternative. But that option, too, is quickly slipping.Shopkeepers in Lajpat Nagar and South Extension said induction stoves were among the first appliances to disappear from their shelves once the LPG crisis intensified. At Kotla market, traders said only expensive models priced upwards of Rs 3,000 remained in stock. While larger stores said their stock was wiped out within days, shopkeepers also alleged that some dealers had begun hoarding units and selling them at inflated prices. A trader in Dayanand Colony pointed to a small pile of induction stoves left in his shop and said distributors were now struggling to keep up with the demand. “There is so much panic. We have seen nearly a 70% increase in customers asking for induction stoves,” he said, adding that the few units they recently received included faulty pieces sent hurriedly by suppliers to meet the demand.From dealing with the skyrocketing cylinder price to resorting to burning wood and coal or hunting for inductions, Delhi’s caterers and dabbawalas said the crisis had left many kitchens struggling to keep the stoves lit.
