People in corporate sector jobs often leave their hometowns to earn a handful, living their lives either in PGs or flats, where managing household chores along with the workload and fast-paced lives often makes it difficult to juggle it all together.They often look forward to office canteens for a hot dosa or pav bhaji. But what if disappointment hits when the canteen serves just dal-rice or nothing at all? That’s the reality for thousands of IT workers in India right now, as numerous firms have either called off canteen services completely or are just serving basic food, with a cooking gas crunch turning corporate cafeterias into bare-bones operations.
These disruptions caused by the West Asia conflict have disrupted LPG supplies, and this isn’t just a minor inconvenience; it’s forcing employees to pack lunchboxes like schoolkids, rethink their daily routines, and question how long they can stick to mandatory office days.
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IT firms cut down canteen services in office
A shortage of commercial LPG cylinders, triggered by the ongoing West Asia conflict, has forced major IT firms in India to drastically cut canteen services across Pune, Bengaluru, and other cities. Infosys led the wave last week, with its Pune canteen committee advising employees to “carry their own tiffins” since food court vendors faced reduced gas supplies and couldn’t operate fully, according to a notice shared with staff. The company also urged avoiding campus events needing catering.
After Infosys, TCS campuses also lessen canteen services
At Pune’s Commerce Zone in Yerawada, employees got word from March 9 to bring homemade food, as “only dal-rice was available at the canteen till Friday,” one TCS employee told The Indian Express. Bengaluru’s ITPL Whitefield campus went further, asking staff from March 11 to pack lunches, with options shrinking to “lemon rice and sandwiches,” as per another employee.
Cognizant also hit by the impact
Cognizant shut live counters at its Pune campus offering South Indian dishes, pulao, and pav bhaji, leaving “only the rice plate facility… ongoing,” an employee said, hinting at possible hybrid work for non-critical roles if it drags on. Wipro’s Hinjewadi Pune site stopped fast food and Chinese counters too, sticking to rice plates as vendors battled the “LPG crunch,” according to a Business Today report.
Strain on employees without options
The crisis bites hardest for those without a home cooking fallback. TCS’s five-day office mandate in Bengaluru has staff pleading for hybrid relief amid food woes, especially since PGs and hostels have also slashed to dal-rice or closed kitchens. Pavanjit Mane, President of the Forum for IT Employees Maharashtra, noted that 2–3 lakh Pune IT workers from other states depend fully on canteens or eateries, now crippled by domestic LPG hits too. He urged firms to allow “work from hometown” till supplies normalise.For now, what started as a supply issue is turning into a daily struggle for thousands of employees.
