India, April 6 -- For over a month now, the city has been witnessing a silent crisis unfold, one that does not reflect in official records but is deeply visible in kitchens that no longer have a flame.

The district administration maintains there is no shortage of LPG. Supply, officials insist, is adequate. On the ground, however, what I found is not a supply issue but an access crisis.

Those with formal gas connections are still managing. Deliveries are delayed, but they continue. The worst hit are those who were never part of the formal system: daily wage workers, slum residents, and domestic help who depended on small 2-kg cylinders or informal refilling points tucked inside narrow lanes.

That entire ecosystem has collapsed.

With st...