Street food stalls remain closed due to lack of commercial LPG in Vijayawada on March 29, 2026. | Photo credit: GN Rao
With many restaurants and catering units shutting down their businesses, migrant workers from other states who settled in Andhra Pradesh have returned to their native places as they have lost their livelihood due to lack of commercial gas cylinders.
There were thousands of laborers working in hotels, catering units, roadside restaurants, fast food centres, sweet stalls, snacks and tea stalls in Andhra Pradesh.
According to sources, several million people from Odisha, West Bengal, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and other states earned their livelihood by doing skilled and semi-skilled jobs in Andhra Pradesh.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many workers returned to their native villages, but resumed their work after the situation returned to normal.
“Thousands of women are employed as cooks, helpers, sweets, snacks and making tiffins in fast food centres, catering units, hotels, biryani and roadside restaurants,” said cart owner Sivaram, who runs the tiffin centre.
“Due to the lack of commercial gas cylinders, many fast food outlets have stopped their food court operations and are eating on the street, forcing workers to leave the state,” said a biryani outlet owner, Durga Rao.
“We employed 15 workers to prepare sweets at our stall. But due to lack of commercial LPG cylinders, we closed our sweets stall and the workers dispersed,” said Ramakrishna, a sweet shop owner from Vijayawada.
“There is no work for the workers as the owners of ‘chat’, ‘noodle’, ‘pakoda’, ‘jilebi’ and tea stalls closed their businesses after the West Asian war crisis,” said Ram Singh, a laborer from Odisha who lost his job.
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Many ‘pulka point’, ‘parata’, ‘fried rice’, ‘paani puri’ and other roadside restaurants have stopped sales as there was shortage of commercial gas and workers were left jobless, said pulka point owner Purohit.
The owners of some hotels and restaurants operated with a minimal menu.
Heavy rush was seen at Vijayawada, Eluru and other railway stations with many workers returning to their native states after losing their jobs.
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A few laborers turned into daily wage laborers and were seen looking for work at ‘labour addas’.
“I was working at a fast food centre. Due to lack of commercial LPG, the owner initially prepared food for a few customers and later closed it down. About 12 workers, including four women, employed at the center lost their jobs,” said chef S Narayana.
Published – 29 March 2026 16:24 IST
