LPG Crunch: Firewood Cooked Food For Ministers, MLAs At Himachal Assembly’s Budget Session

Tempers may be running high inside the state assembly as it intensely debates Himachal Pradesh’s fiscal crisis, the war in West Asia causing an LPG supply crunch, or the drug problem. Outside, ministers, MLAs and official dignitaries are being served modest firewood-cooked meals and hot tea.

This is the first time the HP Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC)—an official caterer for all government meetings, events, and state assembly sessions has switched over to the traditional cooking method, the use of ‘chulhas’.

Rajiv Kumar, HPTDC’s Managing Director, said, “Firewood cooking for mass community meals is the most viable option, and the corporation has taken it as a challenge to provide service to the honourable members of the assembly and also the cabinet ministers, along with the media corps."

He admits that the use of bhattis or the traditional chulhas in the hotels and restaurants was discarded long back in HPTDC’s transition to modern LPG-based kitchens. But the organisation has some of the experienced staff and kitchen managers, who are well trained in handling such emergencies.

“In most of the HPTDC hotels, we are using induction stoves, electric devices, and alternative fuel methods to keep the operations running without any disruption. The commercial LPG is not available, compelling the hospitality sector to devise alternatives,” he says.

The HPTDC serves meals to almost 400-500 persons every day during the assembly sittings; legislators, ministers, their guests, and officials on duty, besides staff attached to the ministers and the state assembly secretariat, also get served at subsidised rates.

The HPTDC duty officials say the firewood-cooked food is healthy and tastes better than LPG-cooked food. The corporation has, indeed, developed the capacity to prepare meals in large quantities. “There is no shortage of firewood, though cooking involves some extra effort and takes more than modern cooking using LPG cylinders,” said a retired HPTDC manager.

In Shimla town, several restaurants and dhabas have shut down their businesses, while a few have started using charcoal-based bhattis and kerosene stoves to resume business, as tourist footfall has started increasing.

Ashok Gupta of “Gupta ji’s,” a known city eatery of vegetarian food in the Middle Bazaar, said the disruption in commercial LPG supply has hit his business hard, adding that he hopes the government will step in to support those whose livelihoods are affected.

Prem Raj, another dhabha owner at Sanjauli, said he has sent the staff back home. There is no LPG supply. I am managing with an induction cooker and have cut down the menu to 40 per cent. Only dal or kadi rice is being prepared."

Congress MLA from Lahaul-Spiti Anuradha Rana raised the issue in the state assembly about the LPG supply crunch in her area and asked the government to take steps to ensure the supply of fuel in the remote tribal regions, currently experiencing snowfall.

Rana brought attention to the vulnerability of high-altitude rural areas during the zero hour of the ongoing assembly session. She called for reducing the mandatory gap between LPG cylinder bookings from 45 days to 25 days for rural and tribal consumers, aligning it with urban areas.

“The entire tribal belt of Lahaul-Spiti falls under tribal, rural classification. A majority of residents depend on fuel wood, but forest cover is scarce in our snow-bound region,” she said.

Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu admitted that the shortage of commercial LPG supply has started causing problems. “We will take up this matter with the Union Ministry of Petroleum for some interventions. The domestic supplies, however, are maintained in the state to a large extent."

The disruption of the commercial LPG supply also affects the hostel messes at Himachal Pradesh University. The management of hostels has reduced the food timings for hostelers.

The problem is equally serious in the messes of the government and private nursing colleges in the state, while most rural families have already reverted to traditional cooking and the use of firewood.

D. K. Manta, a retired HAS officer, noted that villages have abundant firewood. “Traditionally, we cook meals over firewood during festivals, fairs, and weddings. LPG cylinders are typically used only when guests arrive or when a quicker option is needed,” he said

In Uttarakhand towns, the LPG crisis has cast a shadow on the hotel industry in towns like Mussoorie, Dehradun, Rishikesh, Nainital, and Haridwar, with the hotel association seeking state government interventions as the Char Dham yatra is going to start soon.

Reports said there is an immediate demand for 10,000 cylinder orders, for which bookings have already been made on the portals. The Officials recently confiscated stockpiled commercial cylinders in Rishikesh, indicating hoarding concerns.