E-Kantipur

KATHMANDU, JAN 28 -

Just as a meeting of the Parliamentary Finance and Labour Relations Committee (FLRC) was about to be called off on Friday, lawmaker Akabal Ahmad Sah spoke. “Give me a minute,” he said. “I have been compelled to live on bread for the past four days due to shortage of cooking gas,” he said, expressing anger at the government. Interestingly, Sah’s full 10-minute kitchen story drew the attention of the committee members, who listened with pin drop silence in the meeting hall.

In another kitchen story, Gyaneshore Aryal, the immediate past president of Nepal Gas Dealers’ Federation, received an emergency call on his mobile on Thursday evening from Maoist lawmaker Hitman Shakya. Shakya requested Aryal to arrange for an LPG cylinder for Mohan Baidya, the hardline leader of the Maoist party. “With great difficulty, a cylinder was delivered to Baidya at 8:30 pm,” Aryal shared.

However, the story that follows certainly takes the cake. It was friday and Aryal was with Supplies Minister Lekh Raj Bhatta for a lunch after a programme on BBC’s Sajha Sawal, when the minister also disclosed that his cooking gas cylinder had gone empty.

With the “request” for LPG cylinders increasing, Aryal said he has started switching off his cellphone during the evenings. On Friday morning when he switched on his cellphone, there were over 100 missed calls. The day began and he received 150 calls the whole day, a majority of them from politicians, and all requesting for LPG. “The situation is very serious,” Aryal said.

Lawmakers and politicians do have the liberty to call up LPG traders, but the plight of the common people who do not have direct access to these traders must surely be heart-rending.

In this situation, supplying filled LPG cylinders has become the prime concern. However, even the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) says it has no plans with which to address the shortage.

According to the NOC, the Finance Ministry had committed a Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF) and provide Rs 1.10 billion when petroleum products’ prices were hiked on Janaury 18. However, NOC sources say the ministry backtracked from its commitment to bear 50 percent of the losses even after the hike.

“Instead, it sent a letter to the Commerce and Supplies Ministry, stating that it would provide only Rs 250 million,” said a senior NOC official. The ministry, on its part, says it cannot provide a huge amount for the PSF this year.

NOC officials say the situation has worsened with the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) cutting deliveries of LPG due to a crude oil shortage at its Barauni refinery. The normal monthly requirement of LPG in the country is 20,000 tonnes, while demand soars to 25,000 tonnes during the winter. Gas bottlers said they have received 7,000 tonnes of LPG as of January 24, which is far below their requirement. NOC had reduced the supply of LPG in December in a bid to reduce its losses. As a result, there was a shortage in the market in January.

Now, NOC officials, in informal discussions, have started saying that the supply situation will be worse in the coming months. “If the government that partially rolled back the price hike on Thursday, does not immediately manage resources for oil import, NOC cannot manage the oil supply,” said a senior NOC official.

However, the government is yet to spring into action. This was evident in Friday’s FLRC meeting that was convened to discuss the petroleum product price hike and its consequences. Both the Finance Minister and the Commerce and Supplies Minister were absent in the meeting. They sent secretaries of the ministries to attend the meeting instead.

With the European Union joining the US and banning imports of oil from Iran on Monday, the price of petroleum products is expected to rise, which would ultimately mean further problem for the government here.

In the FLRC meeting, Commerce and Supplies Secretary Purusottam Ojha warned that the fuel crisis in Nepal could worsen further due to tensions between Iran and the US. According to Ojha, NOC’s monthly projected losses have increased to Rs 1.26 billion from Rs 860 million after the partial roll back on Thursday.

MoF to lend cash to NOC

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has agreed to lend Rs 250 million to Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) to finance fuel import, fearing an acute petroleum shortage amid the widening gap between supply and demand. However, an NOC source said the amount will not support supply even for a week.

The NOC source said it pays the Indian Oil Corporation in four installments every month and currently there is a deficit of Rs 310 million on each installment. NOC imports fuel worth Rs 6.5 billion every month.

Posted on: 2012-01-28 09:19

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