Somnath Das drives his auto-rickshaw in the Sovabazar-Ultadanga station route.
“I stood at the gas pump for two hours for three litres of gas. It is nowhere enough for the daily commute. I don’t know how to manage my livelihood anymore because the fuel crisis is severely hitting my earnings,” said Das.
Das is just one of the many auto-rickshaw drivers who are forced to spend hours queuing for fuel to drive their vehicles on the fixed routes across the city.
“It took three hours to get four litres of LPG gas”, said an auto driver on the Jadavpur-Garia route. “For today I have managed. What I will do from tomorrow, I do not know.”
The fuel shortage has gripped Kolkata at a personal level, too.
From early morning on March 11, Wednesday, most of the domestic LPG cylinder helpline numbers wore not working.
What started as an emergency procedure by the centre to stop the distribution of commercial LPG cylinders, and rationing of domestic cylinders, has spread into mass panic among many, who have no other option left. The wait time is not limited to 25 days, the customer service helplines have stopped taking further bookings altogether.
Belgharia LPG vendor Lalu Ghosh has been swarmed multiple times on the street with residents asking what they can do to get a supply. “I have told everyone I have no extra cylinders to supply. Paying double won’t solve this crisis,” said Ghosh.
Survey Park residents gathered around the Indane LPG office. “My gas cylinder emptied this morning, so naturally I called their helpline to book the next one. They did not respond. When I came down to the office, I was told they cannot help me either,” said Sunetra Majumdar, a resident of east Kolkata.
“We cannot book gas anymore, but we have to cook. I have been standing in this line for three hours now,” said a resident of north Kolkata.
“This crisis has been going on for three days now. I have no idea what to do next, even the offices who supply LPG, are refusing service,” said Proma Pal, a resident of Baguihati.
People are pivoting to induction cooking, but the immediate distress remains. Induction cooktops have gone out of order in major cities already, with Kolkatans following through. All alternative ways of cooking food are being tested by residents of Kolkata.
A shopkeeper at north Kolkata's MG Electronics said, "The sales for induction cookers have spiked in the past two days. Earlier we sold 2-3 induction stoves every day, now we are selling almost double."
A ration shop in Baranagar informed, “Kerosene sales have gone up. But supply is limited, and it’s the beginning of the month, so people have already collected the rationed stock.”
While residents ponder over other options, the crisis at hand has no immediate or obvious solution.