PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ Nainital
With the Middle East conflict escalating, its direct impact is increasingly being seen in the tourist city Nainital in the form of worsening LPG shortage. Keeping the volatile war scenario in view, the Centre has already changed some rules regarding domestic cooking gas booking. The consumers say that online booking is not being done due to the non-receipt of the DAC (confirmation) number. One of them, Himanshu Joshi said that he has been facing problems in collecting a cooking gas cylinder for long. “Things have come to such a pass that we cannot even make Rotis,” he rued. It is the same for many who do not have an electrical cooking option.
Echoing Joshi, another resident, Diwan Singh Bisht said that though it has been a month since they have booked the cylinder remains elusive.
The manager of the KMVN gas agency, Ravi Mehra said that they have sufficient stock of 14.2 kg domestic cylinders. “But there is a booking problem due to the absence of the DAC number. As the booing is not being done the consumers are not getting cylinders. We hope that the online booking process will become normal and once this is solved the whole problem will be solved,” he assured.
Not just the domestic LPG consumers but the consumers of the commercial cylinders are facing the heat too, perhaps more with the administration having stopped distribution of commercial cylinders to the hotels and restaurants.
Expressing concern over the worsening shortage, the president of the Nainital Hotels and Restaurants Association, Digvijay Singh Bisht said that the administrative order has been negatively impacting hotel and hospitality industries in the tourist city. “This despite the fact that our principal source of livelihood here is tourism. If things persist we will be in dire straits. Impact is already being felt on restaurants. Some of them have closed. We may face the same predicament in the coming days,” he added.
Meanwhile, a delegation of the Hotels and Restaurants Association met the district magistrate Lalit Mohan Rayal and requested him to ensure that LPG cylinders should be provided to the hotels and restaurants albeit in limited quantities. The DM said that instructions have been given to provide gas cylinders to hospitals and schools only for the time being. He further said that the district administration had held talks with the gas agencies and assured that he would consider the hoteliers’ problem too.
