Separate LPG cylinder to take time

HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE

KATHMANDU: Nepal Oil Corporation’s board today decided to prepare a working procedure to implement differently coloured Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG)cylinders for domestic and industrial use.

The board meeting held today to endorse the agreement between LP Gas Association Nepal and government that was signed yesterday took the decision of halting the colour separation process until a working procedure is formed, informed director general at the Department of Commerce and Supply Management Narayan Prasad Bidari who is also a board member at the corporation.

The board has decided to form a seven-member technical committee led by under secretary at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies to prepare a working procedure, he said. “Representatives from Finance Ministry, Ministry of Physical Planning, Works and Transport Management, Nepal Oil Corporation and the association have been appointed as members of the committee.”

The board has mandated the committee to complete its study in 15 days, he said, adding that colour differentiation of cooking gas cylinders for the purpose of domestic and industrial use will start only after the submission of the report.

The committee will also carry out a study on other contentious issues including commission rate, transportation cost, technical loss and overhead cost structure, said Bidari.

LP Gas Association Nepal and government reached an agreement yesterday after chief secretary Leela Mani Paudyal warned of imposing Essential Service Act on the trade of LPG.

The association has started to receive Product Delivery Order (PDO) from Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) after the agreement, the corporation said. The association had refused to receive PDO from August 7 to put pressure on the government to fulfill its 16-point demand.

The committee led by the then Constituent Assembly member Bhim Acharya had recommended the government to lower the commission rate, said Bidari, adding that the government is ready to revise the rate only after a scientific study.

Dealers should be ready to reduce commission rate and other facilities if the committee recommends the government to do so, he added.

NOC has been compensating all the expenses that gas bottling plants incur before the gas cylinders are supplied to the consumers. It provides Rs 28 net profit on a cylinder of cooking gas to bottling plants.

It also provides Rs 80.45 transportation cost to import cooking gas from Barauni depot of Indian Oil Corporation to Kathmandu, and Rs 25.36 for local transportation. Similarly, NOC provides Rs 1.39 for technical loss and Re 0.50 as overhead cost on a cylinder of cooking gas. Under the heading of dealer expenditure which comprises of technical loss (after refilling), insurance and transportation, NOC provides Rs 50 on a cylinder of cooking gas.

However, the safety of 4.5

million cooking gas cylinders which are in circulation in

the market has always been an issue, according to NOC because most bottling plants are operating without maintaining proper safety norms.