Mumbai: Mohammed Naseer rolls roomali roti and waits for the sigri, a charcoal-fired metal pan, to warm up. Unlike the multi-burner gas stove which heats up quickly and rapidly cooks food, it takes 10-15 minutes to heat and longer to cook.“If I made 50 roomali rotis in 30 minutes on gas burner, now it takes 45 minutes to prepare as many,” said Naseer, in between baking the thin, flatbread in the kitchen of the Shalimar restaurant at Mohammed Ali Road. At Hindustan Hotel opposite Minara Masjid, owner Abdul Aziz said work begins earlier now, around six in the morning, because it takes longer to cook on coal-fired ovens. “Our kheema and mughlai dishes are ready by 12 noon followed by preparation of iftar delicacies. We have stopped serving fried rice, paya and daal gosht (mutton),” said Aziz.Commercial LPG shortage has impacted supply and operations of eateries lining the streets of Mohammed Ali Road-Bhendi Bazaar amid the holy month of Ramzan. Close to Eid festivities, both restaurants and roadside stalls struggle to deliver on orders by switching to charcoal stoves and induction stoves. Some have trimmed the menu to leave out dishes which need cooking on high flame. At the Chinese N Grill near the iconic Minara Masjid, the most famous dish—Crispy Thread Chicken—is no longer served. Mercifully, other popular items like Chicken Shanghai Sizzler, Nalli Nihari and Bheja Fry are still around. “Somehow we are running the kitchen with sigdi (charcoal). But this is costlier. If commercial LPG supply is not restored soon, most of us will have to shut down,” said Aquib, Chinese N Grill’s supervisor.Chapatis and Chinese dishes have also taken a hit. “They are off the menu. We are cooking Mughlai dishes on sigri and frying malpuas on a diesel-fired stove,” said Shalimar’s owner Umair Shaikh.Many hoteliers complain against the govt’s decision to prioritise domestic LPG consumers over users of commercial LPG. “If someone does not eat at home, he can eat at a restaurant. But if all restaurants are closed, where will those who have no homes eat?” asked Shashidhar Shetty of Govind Shree Durga Bhavani, a vegetarian eatery opposite J J Hospital. “Our AHAR (Indian Association of Hotels and Restaurants) president Vijay Shetty has written to the PMO and ministers Piyush Goel and Hardeep Puri. We are only getting assurances,” said Shetty who dropped dosa and medu vada from his menu, but retained idli and misal pao. Khalid Hakim of the century-old Noor Mohammadi restaurant on Mohammed Ali Road said he has stopped preparing rabri. “The LPG shortage comes at a time when business is supposed to be booming. These are the last days of Ramzan and most of our customers are non-Muslims who come even from far-off suburbs. It looks bad to tell them some of our dishes are unavailable,” said Hakim. Many said they are losing sleep and even if they catch a few winks after sehri (a light pre-dawn meal during Ramzan), they wake up worrying about insufficient fuel in their kitchens. “Every morning I wake up worrying. Gas cylinders are not available and induction stoves cannot cook tawa delicacies like baida roti, bhoona gosht and cutlets. Sigdi is slow,” said Asif Shaikh of the Indian Hotel at Bhendi Bazar. At the famous Tawakkal Sweets (founded in 1945), Mustafa Mithaiwala said sweets like rasmalai and doodhi halwa are off his menu. “We are managing somehow. Tell the govt to make it better,” he pleaded while attending to a bevy of Bohra Muslim customers. The Dawoodi Bohras celebrated Eid on Thursday as they follow the Egyptian calendar. Now with Eid festivities set to begin on Saturday, most hoteliers are taking stock of what they can offer over the weekend. Sounding a bit rueful, Hassan Jaffer Mansuri of Jaffer Bhai’s Delhi Darbar Catering Division said kapsa rice, mutton paya and mutton khichda have been dropped from the menu from the list of delicacies.

NEW DELHI: Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday stressed the urgent need to build a drone production ecosystem in the country to ensure strategic autonomy, enhance defence preparedness and make the nation self-reliant in the field in view of present geopolitical uncertainties.“India must work in a mission mode to emerge as a global hub of indigenous drone manufacturing in the next few years,” Rajnath said during the inaugural session of the National Defence Industries Conclave here.He said the ongoing conflicts, ranging from the Russia-Ukraine was to the tensions between Iran and Israel, are proof that drones and counter-drone technologies are destined to play a pivotal role in future warfare, and ‘atmanirbharta’ in drone manufacturing is essential not merely at the product level, but at the component level as well.“From drone moulds to its software, engines and batteries, everything must be manufactured in India. This is no easy task. In most countries where drones are manufactured, a significant number of critical components are currently imported from China,” he said.Rajnath said that while the creation of any nation’s defence industrial ecosystem relies on contributions of large industries, MSMEs, startups and innovators, it is equally driven by a clear policy push from the govt, tailored to meet the country’s specific defence requirements. While he called for active contribution from the private sector, he extended the govt’s full support to transform India into a global hub for indigenous drone manufacturing.The minister described iDEX (Innovations for Defence Excellence) and ADITI (Acing Development of Innovative Technologies with iDEX) as game-changer initiatives, through which start-ups, innovators, and MSMEs are provided with the opportunity to develop novel solutions to meet the specific requirements of the defence forces.He said that “as of Feb 2026, 676 startups, MSMEs and individual innovators have joined the defence innovation ecosystem since inception of iDEX in 2018. In total, 548 contracts have been signed; and 566 challenges launched”. Of these, 58 prototypes have received clearance for procurement, valued around Rs 3,853 crore, he said.“Further, 45 procurement contracts have already been signed, worth nearly Rs 2,326 crore. These figures demonstrate that innovation is gradually materialising into tangible products and technologies, and the role played by our startups and MSMEs in this transformation is steadily gaining strength,” Rajnath said.