Following a cabinet decision taken one week ago, Finance Minister Bharat Mohan Adhikary, Chief Secretary Madhav Prasad Ghimire, Secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers (PMO) Leela Mani Paudel and Finance Secretary Rameshwor Khanal met Speaker Subash Nembang jointly on Wednesday morning and requested him to form a competent panel to probe alleged anomalies at NOC.[break]
"We went and requested Nembang to form a probe panel as per the cabinet´s decision," said a source, adding, "The Speaker told us that he will consult party representatives and address the government´s concerns."
According to a parliamentary source, Speaker Nembang replied to the team that he would first discuss the matter with party chief whips and take a decision after garnering a consensus over the matter.
"The Speaker also asked the finance minister and high-ranking government officials who met him to consult party chief whips," the parliamentary source informed Republica.
Taking up complaints from various walks of life that anomalies are rampant within NOC, the cabinet had taken its decision last week in a bid to clean up NOC. According to the source, the cabinet took mainly two decisions regarding NOC.
First, it decided to request parliament to constitute a parliamentary panel to probe irregularities at NOC. And secondly, it also decided to suggest that parliament delegate a wider scope to the proposed probe panel.
According to the cabinet decision, the panel will not only dig out the factors contributing to anomalies at NOC, but also prepare a report with possible solutions for improving things at the corporation and controlling the leakages and loopholes. The probe panel will come up with possible ways to curb the rampant anomalies, loopholes and leakages.
If all the losses at NOC continue, the total burden to the national coffers may exceed Rs 30 billion, said a NOC official.
"The cabinet became serious after coming to know that NOC has frequently increased the price of petroleum products, citing losses, but not delivered a quality service," the source said, adding, "Setting up a parliamentary probe means that investigations against NOC have become a must."
Only a week ago, NOC had announced that its loss is going to jump to Rs 1.33 billion in March from Rs 1.13 billion in February, as the Indian supplier jacked up the supply rates for Nepal amid soaring crude prices.
Referring to the new supply rates issued by Indian Oil Corporation, NOC said that at the present retail rates it is set to suffer a loss of Rs 7.76 on each liter of petrol.
According to NOC officials, the loss on a liter of diesel has jumped to Rs 14.27. They also said that the corporation is poised to suffer a loss of Rs 998.85 million on diesel trade alone.
The corporation, which was earning a profit on kerosene, is now witnessing a loss of Rs 4.90 on each liter of kerosene it has been selling. Its loss on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) remains unchanged at Rs 254.77 per cylinder of 14.2 kg.
The new import rate has also slashed the corporation´s profit on aviation fuel to Rs 6.20 per liter.
Earlier, the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had halted NOC´s decision to distribute bonus to its staff.
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