CHENNAI: The shortage of commercial LPG cylinders has begun to disrupt operations of hostels, college kitchens and office cafeterias, forcing institutions and companies to devise temporary measures to cope with the situation.
After a private medical college near Chennai requested its students to vacate hostels temporarily, the director of Medical Education, Dr R Suganthy Rajakumari, on Thursday instructed all government medical college hostels to alter their food menu to include items that consume less fuel. She also held a meeting with deans to discuss measures to tide over the crisis. Dr Suganthy told TNIE in most of the colleges, the LPG stock will last only for roughly five days.
The director said, in a meeting chaired by chief secretary N Muruganandam, the deans have been told to include food items like flattened rice, variety rice, bread, and fruits in the menus that require less or no fuel after consulting dieticians. They have also been asked to stock firewood. Smaller hostels have been instructed to use electric cookers and stoves.
A student from one of the medical college hostels said the facilities have stopped preparing items like dosa, poori, chapatis, eggs and chickens, and are now being given pongal, ghee rice and veg kurma. “We have been told that the LPG stock is available only for two to three days,” he said.
Dr Suganthy said deans have also been asked in particular to ensure food services for patients and attendants in hospitals are also not affected. With examinations under way in many colleges in Chennai, shutting hostels is not a viable option, prompting institutions to alter meal plans, sources said. Association of Self Financing Arts and Science and Management Colleges of Tamil Nadu, which represents more than 700 colleges, has written to oil companies seeking urgent intervention.
“We have written to the top management of both Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited to ensure uninterrupted LPG supply to higher educational institutions,” said Ajeet Kumar Lal Mohan, president of the association. “Instead of full meals, we have suggested institutions serve bread for breakfast and a variety of rice for lunch and dinner,” he said.
Some campuses that have separate firewood kitchens are managing by preparing steam-cooked food, but most kitchens are unable to switch to alternative fuel sources immediately.
The situation has been particularly difficult for small hostels and paying guest accommodations. The Tamil Nadu IT Hostel and PG Owners Welfare Association said many establishments dependent on daily LPG cylinder supply have already stopped serving cooked food.
However, government-run institutions said they have adequate stock for now. Officials from Anna University and University of Madras said hostel students are not facing any immediate difficulty.
WFH for HCL tech staff
Leading IT firm HCLTech has asked its employees in Chennai to work from home on Friday to ease pressure on office canteens. In an internal communication to staff, the company said business operations would remain unaffected but some food vendors were facing difficulties due to the LPG supply issues. Infosys has advised employees to bring home-cooked food for lunch if possible, as canteens are expected to have limited cooked food options.
The story is reported by Binita Jaiswal, Sinduja Jane of The New Indian Express
