BHUBANESWAR: In a relief for hundreds of small restaurants and eateries facing shortage of LPG cylinders in view of the West Asia crisis in the state capital, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday announced to temporarily lift the ban on use of charcoal and firewood.
The announcement from the civic body came after hotels, restaurants and roadside eateries complained of difficulties they were facing in running their businesses for the last 3-4 days due to short supply of LPG cylinders.
Mayor Sulochana Das, who reviewed the situation, said there has been inadequate supply of commercial cooking gas cylinders to the hotels and food vendors due to the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.
“The crisis has already led to closure of many hotels and restaurants in big cities and with the government announcing to regulate supply with a priority on essential services, we have decided to bring relaxation in use of burning of coal in small and medium hotels, restaurants and eateries temporarily,” Das said. She said the approval to the proposal will be given after the same is reviewed with the corporators. However, this will only be a temporary measure and the ban will be reinforced once the LPG supply is restored, Das added.
The announcement was welcomed by owners of hotels, restaurants and street vendors who were forced to spend more to purchase cylinders to run their kitchen, and stared at a temporary shutdown in the absence of other alternatives.
Though the state government has asked people not to panic citing there is enough stock of LPG, the struggle to get adequate number of gas cylinders for smooth running of hotel business continued.
BMC had imposed ban on use of firewood and charcoal after air pollution spiked to an alarming level during winter in 2025.
Satya Nagar crematorium out of LPG cylinders, GAIL urged to restore supply
The shortage of LPG has disrupted gas cylinder supply to Satya Nagar crematorium in the city, prompting the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) to approach GAIL (India) Limited for piped connection for the existing gas burner at the cremation facility.
BMC sources said the civic body has written to GAIL’s general manager for City Gas Distribution (CGD) project in Khurda and Cuttack seeking piped LPG supply to the crematorium for smooth functioning of the gas-based cremation facility at the site. Mayor Sulochana Das said the crematorium requires at least two cylinders per day to carry out cremations in the gas-based burner. Accordingly, the agency is required to supply 14 cylinders every week.
“However, it has come to our notice that there has been a disruption in the supply and no cylinder has been delivered for the last five days,” the mayor said. She, however, said the agency has been asked to restore it immediately considering the priority nature of the essential services. Das also clarified that the short supply has not caused any disruption in cremation activities as the pyre-based cremation is continuing.