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Kerala's food streets gasping for gas amid 'LPG shortages'

Thiruvananthapuram | Ettumanoor | Chalakudy: Kerala has sprawling chains of outdoor eateries, which are closely linked to the daily life of Malayalees, both as enterprising food vendors and devout customers. Apart from the traditional chain of restaurants, "bar attached" and otherwise, the mushrooming popular 'thattukada' (small roadside food cart) chains and 'veettile oonu' (licensed homely meal outlets run from many houses) network daily cater to the local population's increasing habit of eating out or depending on take away 'parcel' joints and to the tourists. These food streets of Kerala are gasping for "gas" in this political, and thus commercial, peak season in the run-up to the assembly elections. The shortage of commercial liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders, even at hiked prices, amid the West Asia war, has a visible muffling impact, town after town, on the otherwise bustling food trade, leaving stakeholders worried and frustrated. If the LPG shortage has forced many restaurants to scale down operations, many of the more vulnerable lot have already shut shops, waiting for an early end to the war and return of normalcy in cooking gas supply. Also Read: Women may cheer, but free bus ride a risk to Kerala's robust transport ecosystem "For some days now, I have stopped cooking here because of unavailability of (commercial) LPG cylinders," said Shyam, who runs a one-room "chicken & snacks" takeaway. "Now I am limited to making fruit juices and selling tea on an electric stove. Obviously, my earnings have come down." His immediate neighbour in the row of shops, who runs a 'thattukada', has stopped operations altogether for the same reason. The people are now worried, despite periodic reassurance from the government, whether after the costlier LPG and premier petrol, a prolonged war would also lead to spiralling prices of other commodities. Some outlets have informally hiked their rates due to costlier LPG cylinders. Also Read: LDF pledges Rs 3,000/month pension; jobs, growth push in election manifesto Sheeba, who runs a small 'veettile oonu' along with her husband near Ettumanoor, says commercial LPG shortage has already forced them to scale down operations. "The gas stoves have been off here for the past many days after we failed to get LPG refuelling. These days we cook much less by using firewood. which is also becoming costly as more outlets are turning to it due to the LPG shortage. As we don't have enough to serve our customers, we have suffered loss of revenue. I have already missed repaying one bank loan instalment. I just don't know how long this issue will continue," she said. While the official rate of commercial LPG has touched around ₹2,000 per cylinder, even those who are ready to pay that kind of price are finding it very difficult to get the supply. Meanwhile, black-marketeers are said to be asking for even ₹4,000 per commercial LPG cylinder. "The shortage of LPG cylinders, and therefore an underutilised kitchen, meant a significant dip in our daily revenue, whereas the rent, cost of procurement and wage of our staff remain the same. That makes it really tough to keep it running like this," said Salaam, who runs a small restaurant in Chalakudy. The LPG crisis has also hit many regular customers, especially students and employees staying away from their hometowns, besides complicating the famed 'parcel' arrangement, where people often pick up from the takeaways on their way back from offices rather than bother with daily cooking. Another affected category is the increasing number of elderly couples often staying alone - with their working children away from the state or the country - who have made regular arrangements for daily food supply from the neighbourly outdoor catteries. All these make LPG cylinders as sought-after and as precious, if not more, as votes in this Kerala poll season.

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