Shimla hotel cooking on 'char' stoves amid LPG crisis
With LPG in short supply because of the West Asia conflict, Shimla's Hotel Holiday Home is going old-school, cooking meals for around 550 people on traditional char (firewood) stoves during the state assembly's budget session.
Dhani Ram Sharma and his team are making it work, even as they serve up food for legislators and officials.
Concerns over impact on tourism
char cooking means early mornings (prep starts at 7 a.m.) and a much shorter menu: just three pages now, down from 11.
Some MLAs are actually loving the taste of these firewood-cooked meals.
But there's concern too: HPTDC director Rajeev Kumar says if this LPG shortage continues into tourist season, it could really hurt Himachal Pradesh's economy, since "While we have started adopting alternatives, the real test will come in May and June when the summer tourist season peaks."