Suggested cue: India is turning to more polluting fuels as war-driven gas shortages disrupt LPG supplies. Conflict in the Middle East has hit shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, leaving homes and businesses scrambling. With supplies tight, demand for dirtier fuels is rising rapidly. Experts warn this could reverse years of progress on clean cooking and worsen air pollution. DW Correspondent Adil Bhat reports from New Delhi.  

Lower thirds:

0:03  Report by / Adil Bath, Richard Kujur  
0:18  Chandni / Daily Wager
1:17  Adil Bhat / DW Correspondent z
2:20  Anumita Roychowdhury / Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi 

Script: 

00:02- 00:17 

Until recently, Chandni and her family cooked with LPG gas -  a cleaner, safer option they had relied on for years. 

Now, that’s no longer possible. 

With gas cylinders hard to find, they’ve been pushed back to cooking on firewood. 

Chandni , Daily Wager ( She prefers to use only first name)  

SOT  ( Hindi)  

00:18 – 00:35 

 “We are not able to find LPG gas cylinders.  it is almost impossible to get one. We have a small cylinder and have been taking it to shops for a refill, but they say there is no gas. And if they do refill it, they charge three times the original price. We don’t have that kind of money to afford it..” 

00:36- 00;46 

Across low-income Delhi neighbourhoods , families who shifted to cleaner fuel are moving back. 

For Chandni , a daily-wage labourer with no formal gas connection,  the shortage hits hardest. 

Chandni Kumari, Daily Wager 

SOT ( Hindi) 00:48-1:09 

 “It is difficult to cook on this cooking stove. The smoke chokes us and irritates our eyes. We had forgotten how to cook on firewood because we were using gas. Now it is hard to cook like this, but we have no option , we have to feed our children” 

1:11- 1:14  

Even finding firewood in a city like Delhi has become a daily challenge.  

PTC,  Adil Bhat DW Correspondent  ( 1:17- 1:34)  

What we’re seeing here is a reversal of years of progress. Millions of households in India had moved to cleaner cooking fuel but now, because of global supply disruptions, many are being pushed back to using firewood, coal and kerosene. And that doesn’t just affect convenience-  it has serious consequences for health and air quality. 

1:36- 2:12  

It’s not only homes. Restaurants and small businesses are switching to coal or buying gas in   black-market at inflated prices. 

Those using coal declined to speak to us. 

At the heart of this disruption is the conflict in Middle East. Shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz , a key route for global energy supplies, have been affected.  

That has tightened LPG supplies reaching India. 

The government has acted.  

Commercial kitchens and restaurants are now allowed to use coal, kerosene and waste-based fuels, to save LPG for households. 

2:13

But experts warn: the longer this disruption lasts, the harder it is to reverse. 

Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi 

SOT ( English) 2:20
“The energy crisis at this moment is really turning the clock back and whatever we progress we have made to ensure that households have access to cleaner clean cooking energy that is getting deeply and adversely affected. And as a result people are falling back on traditional solid fuels which is causing enormous pollution and it is coming to us at enormous public health cost.” 

For families like Chandni’s, she has little choice but to keep cooking in a smoke-filled cooking stoves.  

She hopes the shortage is temporary- that soon, the gas cylinder will return, and firewood can once again be left behind.