50% of hotels closed in Salem; owners demand steps to curb sale of cylinders in black market

Salem hotels face closure due to cylinder shortages; owners urge action against black market sales impacting operations.

Due to shortage of commercial cylinders, 50% of hotels remain closed in Salem city and the owners have demanded measures to curb the sale of commercial cylinders in black market.

Many hotels in the district have switched to firewood due to shortage of cylinders and in Yercaud, dozens of eateries and tea shops that were closed last week reopened on Sunday with electric stoves and boilers.

The Salem District Hotel Owners’ Association president P.L. Palanisamy said that out of 3,000 hotels in the district, including 1,000 in Salem city, around 50% were closed. Few hotels functioned with firewood, and now there was demand for firewood too. “We were able to find firewood shops in the city about a decade ago. With increasing use of LPG, firewood is brought from the villages. Due to the demand, the price of firewood has increased. Small and medium hotels are able to run on firewood. But big hotels with air-conditioned facilities are unable to switch over to firewood. Many hotels have modified the menus and are functioning at a loss. The officials concerned should curb the sale of commercial cylinders in black market,” he added.

Eatery owners in Yercaud said that commercial cylinders were sold in the black market for ₹3,000 to ₹4,000 a cylinder. So many tea and snack shops in Yercaud switched over to electric stoves and boilers for preparing snacks and tea. Most of the shops were closed for the past one week. The shops functioned only on weekends to cater to the tourists coming to Yercaud, they added.