Kamal Ghorui
Ranchi: Many eateries at Karbala Chowk are struggling to keep their operations running smoothly in the run up to Eid scheduled to be held in the next few days.Though most of the eateries will remain closed on the day of the festival, various kinds of food are required during the ongoing holy month of Ramzan as people observing Roza need food after they break their day-long fast in the evening and also have food before sunrise.This year, many eateries have been forced to cut down on their menus due to shortage and unavailability of LPG cylinder across the country, including Jharkhand. Due to the this, some food joints have decided to shut their shops by the end of this week as their employees too would go back to their hometowns to celebrate. “We will shut down and reopen only after Eid,” said a cashier of an eatery on condition of anonymity.Md Faizan, who runs a restaurant near Karbala Chowk, added that they have removed some items from our menu. “Food items such as Chicken Chaap, Chicken fry and other fried items have been stopped because of the LPG crisis. We have also stopped making the sweet dish ‘Firni’,” he said, adding that the items which can be cooked in traditional coal stoves are only being prepared.The general and popular food, biryani, is however being prepared with the traditional coal ovens, he added.Another eatery has completely shifted to coal ovens. “We are preparing all possible items but in small quantities. The problem is that all things cannot be done well in coal ovens,” Sarik Khurshid, the owner of the shop said.A worker of another food joint said only items which can be prepared with coal ovens are being prepared. With rising operational costs amid the disruption, many also rued about a fall in profits.
