“More than 60 petrol pumps remained dry as the NOC supplied fuel to 40 petrol pumps only,” said Narad Bhandari, office secretary of Nepal Petroleum Dealers´ Association. As a result, pumps faced a tough time managing the irate crowd of consumers.[break]
NOC on the day distributed just 277 kiloliters of petrol, which was only two-thirds of the normal daily supply. “We have no other choice, as Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) itself has cut export to Nepal by 33 percent,” said an NOC official.
NOC had not supplied fuel on Tuesday as well as Thursday due to public holidays.
“Queues were inevitable as most of the refilling stations were already running dry due to interrupted supply,” said Bhandari.
Of the total supply made on the day, NOC said more than 70 KL was supplied to the institutional refilling stations run by Nepal Army, Nepal Police, Armed Police Force and Sajha. As institutional pumps do not supply fuel on Saturday, NOC officials are hopeful that their stock would help contain the market till Sunday.
However, as the pumps receiving supply on Friday will turn dry by Saturday afternoon, dealers ruled out situation remaining under control on Sunday as well.
“The problem of supply lies in inability of NOC to finance import. Unless that is addressed, there is no chance of the situation improving,” said NPDA President Saroj Pandey.
Related story
No fuel shortage in Dashain: NOC
-1200x560-1779450784.webp)
