CHENNAI : The ongoing LPG shortage has begun to affect hostels and paying guest (PG) accommodations, forcing several institutions to scale down meal services, while some colleges have even suspended classes as they struggle to provide food for hostel students.
According to the Tamil Nadu IT Hostel and PG Owners Welfare Association, many small hostels and PG accommodations that depend on a daily supply of LPG cylinders have stopped providing cooked meals to occupants.
The association, which represents over 15,000 hostel and PG owners across Chennai, Chengalpattu, Kanchipuram and Tiruvallur districts, said the situation has worsened over the past few days. G Karthick, state treasurer of the association, said the price of commercial LPG cylinders has shot up sharply amid the shortage.
“The usual 19-kg cylinder, which normally costs around Rs 1,950, was available for nearly Rs 5,000 recently. Now, even at that price, cylinders are not available,” he said.
“It is not possible for us to convert our kitchens to electric cooking overnight. At the same time, we cannot suddenly increase hostel fees as many students and office-goers depend on us for affordable food,” he added.
V Sangeetha, a student staying in a hostel attached to a private engineering college, said the institution had already simplified the menu. “Instead of regular meals with sambar and rasam, we have been told that we will be served only curd rice for the next few days,” she said.
In a more drastic step, a private medical college near Chennai asked its students to vacate the hostels as early as possible and said it would suspend physical classes from March 12 to March 25 and conduct classes online.
Officials from some government institutions, however, said the situation remained manageable. Registrar V Kumaresan of Anna University said hostel students were not facing any immediate difficulty as the university had sufficient LPG supply.
Officials from the state’s Adi Dravidar Welfare and Tribal Welfare departments also said the situation in their hostels was under control for now. The department, which runs 1,138 hostels accommodating around 38,000 students, said it has LPG supply for the next 10 days. However, minor changes in menus, such as reducing items like chapathis that require more gas, are being considered as a precaution.
(With inputs from Rajalakshmi Sampath @ CHENNAI)