Wood-fired chulhas, cylinders brought from village 500km away, living just on bread & fruits: How LPG pressure has hit the most vulnerable

Noida: It’s 5am, still pitch dark in Noida’s Chaprauli village, and Nisha Devi is already at work. She squats beside a chulha, coaxing damp wood to catch fire so she can cook for her family before leaving for work.A domestic helper who cleans and cooks in multiple apartments in Sector 93B, Nisha has not been able to get a refill for her cylinder since LPG supplies came under pressure because of the West Asia conflict and tight scrutiny dried up informal gas supply.At Makanpur village in Ghaziabad, likewise, the shortage has triggered unusual workarounds. Shivani, a domestic helper, had until now managed with smaller cylinders bought locally, the kind that fuel the grey market and keep kitchens running in thousands of low-income homes.

When that dried up, her family sourced a cylinder from their village in Mahoba, some 500 km away, where they hold a legal connection.

Shilpy, who lives in Gejha and works in a highrise society in Sector 93, says she waited nearly a week before managing to get a 5kg cylinder. “For 8-10 days, I depended on food from my employer and bread and fruits bought from the market,” she says.The ongoing LPG supply pressure has hit domestic workers and daily wagers the most, pushing the most vulnerable population into longer, more exhausting days just so that they can get themselves a couple of meals.

“Cooking on wood takes much longer than a stove. I get late for work, but my employer thankfully understands our ordeal,” Nisha says. But the switch has added hours to her morning.A routine once managed with a gas stove now means gathering wood, lighting a chulha, and waiting for the flame to hold, all before the workday begins.A five-kg cylinder now costs her Rs 1,500 and barely lasts a week. “Until recently, we used to source a 14.2 kg cylinder through informal channels for around Rs 1,100.

But, we can no longer pay Rs 4,000 for one, so we had to switch,” she says. Her husband, a cab driver, has seen unsteady earnings, which also put strain on the household income.For Soniya, a domestic helper who travels daily from Harola village in Sector 5 to work in Sector 21, the exhaustion sets in before she reaches her employer’s door. “No one understands our fatigue. Working on a wood-fired stove has me drained before the day even starts, but I cannot leave my children hungry,” she said.For workers already stretched thin, it is a stopgap, not a solution.Shilpy says she had no choice but to take an advance from my employer to buy the small cylinder after her landlord did not allow her to make a mud chulha.But the smaller cylinders offer little relief beyond the immediate. At Rs 1,500 upfront, plus a Rs 900 security deposit, they cost significantly more per unit than a standard 14.2 kg cylinder. Each refill, available only after 18 days, costs Rs 555.Unable to get cylinders refilled in the black market as prices soared, Shivani’s family too had to fall back on a subsidised LPG connection in her village in Mahoba. “My husband travelled there and brought a cylinder back by bus,” she says.

But access remains an ordeal even for those with valid connections. Parveen, who lives in Ghaziabad’s Islam Nagar and works in Siddharth Vihar, has made repeated trips to a gas agency in Kanawani village where her connection is registered.

“My cylinder is almost over. I took leave from work to come here, but for the last three days I have been turned back,” she says.Each failed visit costs her a day’s wages. Her husband, a mason, also earns by the day, leaving the household with no buffer for such disruptions.

Even traditional fallbacks are losing ground. In Kanawani, Heena, another domestic helper working across multiple homes in Indirapuram, says the price of cow dung cakes has jumped from Rs 1 to Rs 5 per piece, pushing the cost of 50 pieces from Rs 50 to 250.

“I go to seven houses for work. After that, where is the time to fetch wood, cut it, and carry it back?” she said. Her cylinder ran out 10 days ago. “Cow dung is expensive, but I have been using it for a week as there is no other option.

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Several families in Heena’s locality have left for their hometowns. “Those who could get leave and afford to go have left. Most of them are those who live in one-room houses with no space for a chulha,” she said. “Those of us with no savings have to keep working.”