“We took the decision mainly to do justice to the customers of Himal Gas - the LPG brand of Gaurishakar Gas Company,” said NOC Spokesperson Mukunda Dhungel. [break]
The company was once of the major suppliers of LPG in the Kathmandu Valley with nearly 154,000 cylinders in circulation.
Gaurishankar Gas faced government wrath last week when inspection by commerce minister Lekh Raj Bhatta revealed that the company was selling LPG to fake customers and also charging higher than the rates fixed by the government.
The government has fixed the price of LPG at Rs 1,415 per cylinder (14.2 kg). However, the company was found charging as much as Rs 1,500 per cylinders from customers.
Following such revelation, NOC has suspended the company´s bottling operation. The decision had triggered panic among consumers of Himal Gas.
“Gaurishankar Gas was receiving 723 tons of LPG (which can refill 50,915 cylinders) every month. We have told the STC that NOC will supply the company´s quota to the corporation to refill Himal gas cylinders,” added Dhungel.
However, NOC sources said STC has not expressed willingness to refill cylinders of other bottlers. “STC has said that it has limited refilling slots at its bottling plant and that it will face difficulty in managing its own supply if it is asked to refill cylinders of other bottlers,” the source added.
Nonetheless, the public sector bottler has said it will take decision on the matter by holding its board meeting soon.
NOC, meanwhile, said Nepal has already received 15,900 tons (1.12 million cylinders load) of gas as of Tuesday. “This is the biggest ever volume we received so far in 28 days of a month. Hence, we are hopeful scarcity in the market will end soon,” Dhungel added.
However, despite rise in imports, LPG scarcity still persists in the market and dealers are forcing consumers to pay more for the cooking fuel. Namrata Basnet of Old Baneshwor said she paid Rs 200 more to a new dealer to get hold of a cylinder of LPG on Monday. “I readily paid the extra amount because my regular supplier of Siddhartha Gas has been denying me the supply,” she told Republica.
A restaurateur in Sundhara shared scarcity has forced him to pay as much as Rs 2,000 for a cylinder of gas to keep his business going.
On being queried over such anomalies, officials of Department of Commerce (DoC) admitted that they too have found dealers charging more from the customers.
“We have forwarded such cases to the district administration for taking action against them on charge of blackmarketing.
Sadly, we have to admit our efforts have failed to control such anomaly so far,” said Kamal Thapa, market inspection officer at DoC.
Related story
Om Gas Udhyog Pvt Ltd destroys expired gas cylinders
-1778309205.webp)
