‘Shri Ram ke paas bhi cylinder nahi hai’: Ashneer Grover reacts to LPG shortage at Gurugram school

India's Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) supply is facing significant disruption as tensions in West Asia remain intense. In retaliation for the US-Israel attack, Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz - a key sea route through which India gets the majority of its LPG imports. With nearly 62% of India's cooking gas imported, hotels, restaurants, manufacturers and educational institutions are grappling with LPG shortage.

The government, however, has consistently maintained that there is no shortage of petrol, diesel, kerosene or LPG in the country. Speaking in Parliament today, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said: "The world has not faced a moment like this in modern energy history...India's crude supply position is secure, and the volume secured exceeds what the Hormuz would have delivered."

Calling it an "irony," he shared the snapshot of the email, which reads: “Dear Parent, Namaste! This is to bring to your urgent attention that our caterer has informed us that he is unable to procure the required quantity of LPG to run the school’s lunch and snacks programmes because of the shortage due to the ongoing West Asian war."

“Ok - shortage must be real! Irony: Shri Ram ke paas bhi cylinder nahi hai,” the former judge of the reality TV show Shark Tank said in the tweet.

A screenshot of the email revealed that the school had asked parents to make alternate arrangements from next week. According to the message, the school’s caterer had only two days’ worth of stock left, and it remained uncertain whether the caterer would be able to procure an LPG cylinder in time.

The Shri Ram School, a Gurugram-based educational institution with a branch in Delhi, is attended by the children of Ashneer Grover. Grover and his wife, Madhuri Jain Grover, have two children - a son and a daughter.

The advisory comes as concerns grow over the availability of LPG in several regions. Meanwhile, induction cooktops have quickly gone out of stock on several online platforms as consumers look for alternative cooking options amid the uncertainty.