supplies of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) are tightening across India, forcing restaurants to cut menus, shorten hours and in some cases shut down altogether. Social media is awash with video clips showing queues outside cooking-gas dealers across Indian cities and towns as worries over fuel supplies spread. Commercial LPG users appear the worst hit: the sharpest squeeze is in restaurant kitchens. "The situation is dire. Cooking gas simply isn't available," says Manpreet Singh of the National Restaurant Association of India, which represents about 500,000 restaurants. Most eateries run either on commercial LPG cylinders or piped gas, he says, and the shortages are now being felt across the country. "A lot of restaurants have closed - some in Delhi, many in the south [of the country]. People are switching to coal and wood and electric cookers to keep kitchens going." In Mumbai, media reports say up to a fifth of hotels and restaurants are already fully or partly shut as commercial LPG supplies tighten. In the southern cities of Bengaluru and Chennai, some eateries say their gas stocks have dwindled with little backup. "We can only make coffee and nothing else - it is nothing less than pathetic. Businesses are going to suffer," says Haroon Sait, who runs an artisan bakery and restaurant chain in Bengaluru. (BBC)