Dhading, November 10

At a time people across the country are reeling under acute shortage of cooking gas, Dhading folks have started using clean and improvised stove to cope with the crisis.

People living in and around the district headquarters, who had been facing hard time due to cooking gas shortage for long, have started replacing gas stoves with the improved firewood stoves.

Cooking gas shortage has hit the urban population harder due to unavailability of firewood. “Improved stove is more reliable in the rural areas as firewood is easily available,” said Govinda Budhathoki, principal of Advanced Academy.

However, locals complained that the cost of improved stove varied from shop to shop. According to them, various non-governmental organisations have bought the stoves from the market at a higher cost. Traders are found selling improved stoves at prices ranging from Rs 900 to Rs 5,000.

Officials of Focus Nepal, an NGO working under Practical Action Nepal, has been selling the stove in the district. Locals said even cooking heaters are not useful due to irregular power supply.

The number of households using biogas has been rising of late, said Bhumi Raman Nepal, Dhading Chairman of Forest and Environment Society.