Several restaurants and eateries in Pune have either shut down temporarily or scaled back operations over the past few days due to the gas crunch, leaving delivery partners with fewer orders and falling earning, a report by Indian Express said.
Parshuram Kamble, a food delivery partner working in Shivajinagar, said that the drop in orders has been immediate and severe. “In my 12-hour shift, I used to do around 32 orders a day. For the last three days, it’s come down to 13–15,” Kamble told The Indian Express. His daily earnings have fallen from about Rs 1,600 to roughly Rs 600.
Kamble, who moved to Pune from Kolhapur for work, said the decline is already putting pressure on his family finances. His wife and children live in Kolhapur and depend on the money he sends home, he told IE.
“If this continues for long, living in Pune will become difficult. I may have to return to the village,” he said.
Delivery orders drying up
The LPG shortage has forced many eateries to either shut down temporarily or reduce kitchen operations, leading to a visible drop in delivery orders on platforms such as Swiggy and Zomato. Lucky Ade, a delivery partner who works in Hinjewadi, said around eight to nine eateries in the area have stopped operations due to the gas shortage.
“I used to complete 30–34 orders in 10 hours. Since Tuesday, even working 13 hours, I’ve managed only around 20 orders a day,” he told The Indian Express. His daily earnings have dropped from about Rs 1,800 to around Rs 850. Ade also raised concerns about how orders are being distributed on delivery platforms.
“Some partners are getting enough orders, while others are getting very few. There should be some parity in how orders are distributed,” he said.
Sagar Deokar, another delivery worker based in Narayan Peth, said the slowdown has affected him in a similar way. “My entire family — my wife, my son and daughter — are dependent on me,” Deokar told Indian Express, adding that his children are in junior and senior kindergarten. “Paying their school fees is going to become very difficult if this continues.” He added that delivery partners working with both Swiggy and Zomato are facing the same situation.
Restaurants cutting back operations
Industry representatives say the situation has worsened rapidly. Saili Jahagirdar, president of the Pune chapter of the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI), told The Indian Express that the impact on food delivery orders began earlier in the week and has intensified since.
“Many small eateries, bakeries, and snack joints have already shut down shutters, while several others are running at roughly half their usual capacity,” she said. Restaurants are also modifying menus to conserve gas. Slow-cooked dishes that require continuous gas use are being removed, while tandoor-based items such as naan and roti are also at risk because gas-fired tandoors require a steady LPG supply.
Jahagirdar warned that if fresh LPG supplies do not arrive soon, many kitchens could run completely out of gas within days.
Gig workers bear the brunt
According to the IE report, the crisis is particularly severe for gig workers, whose income depends directly on the number of orders they complete. Unlike salaried employees, delivery partners are paid per order, meaning that fewer restaurant operations immediately translate into lower earnings, the report added.
As per the report, many delivery workers in Pune are migrants from rural parts of Maharashtra, including Vidarbha, Marathwada and Kolhapur, who support families back home. For them, even a few days of reduced orders can significantly strain household finances.