Minister for Supplies Ganesh Man Pun issued the directive after no visible improvement was seen in fuel availability in Kathmandu and other cities despite increased supply from India. Speaking at a meeting with stakeholders, Pun also directed NOC to work effectively for increasing supply of petroleum products from India and other possible sources. “Supply of fossil fuel is increasing gradually. However, consumers are not seeing any improvement in fuel availability,” Pun said, adding, “It is the responsibility of all stakeholders to work in close coordination and increase supply in the market.”
Deepak Subedi, joint secretary of Ministry of Supplies, said the stakeholders meeting was organized to seek commitments from the traders and other stakeholders to work efficiently for improving fuel availability in the market. “Though supply of petroleum products from India is increasing, fuel shortage is showing no sign of improvement,” Subedi said. “As all stakeholders have expressed commitment to improve supply, we except to see visible change in the market soon.”
Speaking on the occasion, petroleum dealers and LP gas bottlers said they have been increasing supply in the market accordingly. “We have been diverting most of the LP gas bullets entering the country to Kathmandu Valley,” Shiva Ghimire, president of LP Gas Industry Association said, adding, “Re-routing of LP gas bullets stuck in Raxaul can help to ease shortage of LP gas to some extent.”
Though the government decided last week to re-route LP Gas bullets stuck at Raxaul border, more than 208 such bullets are still stuck at the border point. The government has decided to re-route 108 bullets from Raxaul in the first phase.
Similarly, Lilendra Pradhan, president of Nepal Petroleum Dealers Association, said they were distributing fuel to consumers as per the supplies made by NOC.
Officials of NOC, however, said it would be difficult to increase supply unless supply from Raxaul border returns to normalcy. “As more than 60 percent of our petroleum imports come through Raxaul, it will be impossible to address the crisis despite regular supply from other border points,” said Gopal Khadka, managing director of NOC, said.
Khadka also informed that NOC was facing several technical and financial issues while re-routing LP gas bullets stuck in Raxaul to other border points.
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