Kolkata: Giving some relief to food businesses, including restaurants and roadside food sellers, oil marketing companies have begun releasing 25% of commercial LPG cylinders from Sunday. The decision was announced after queues for domestic cylinders reduced in the city. After the IVRS system for booking gas resumed, the time gap between delivery and booking also reduced.Industry officials said the companies could divert a portion of the LPG for commercial use after gradual stabilisation of the domestic supply. “The oil marketing companies have started releasing 25% of the commercial gas in the city ,” said Bijon Bihari Biswas, spokesperson for LPG dealers. Despite this relief, businesses said the limited release would not be able to meet the demands. “Though the supply has resumed, we are getting fewer cylinders than what’s needed,” said Rajesh Agarwal, a restaurant owner. Street food vendors said they were the worst-affected. Many of these sellers don’t have storage facilities for the items they prepare on daily basis. They also lack financial alternatives to help them sail through tough times. Suman Das, one such seller at Esplanade, revealed how he had to stop selling certain items. Another vendor near New Market, Zubair, said the customers wouldn’t understand their difficulty and opt for other shops if they don’t get the desired dish.The price of commercial LPG cylinders has also increased. The price of a 19 kg commercial cylinder surged by Rs 114.5. According to the figures stated by the industry, the demand for cylinders increased after the supply was affected. On March 5, the booking for cylinders was about 3 lakh for Indian Oil Corporation. The total number of bookings for IOC and other suppliers was around 3.5 lakh, industry sources said on March 9. The cumulative booking figure for the companies increased from about 3.9 lakh to over 7.5 lakh during the period. By March 11, bookings were around 5.9 lakh for IOC and about 7.5 lakh for all suppliers. Officials said demand for cylinders in Bengal is about 2.5 lakh in a day.
