New Delhi Street Stalls Show the Cost of India’s Energy Crunch

Outside New Delhi’s main bus terminus, a cluster of food stalls set up under makeshift canopies has been selling pan-fried flatbreads, comforting stews and hot tea to weary travelers for decades.

Now — just one month into a war in the Persian Gulf that has upended global energy supply — at least one stretch outside the Kashmiri Gate station is almost empty. The carts have been taken away. The owners, according to sellers that remain, have been forced home — joining a steady stream of workers pushed away from cities as a spike in the price of cooking fuel makes their lives unaffordable.