Kathmandu, February 20:

Panic buying by the consu-mers and uneven supply pattern by Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) are aggravating the petroleum supply crisis in the valley.

Even though NOC, the sole supplier of petroleum products, claims that the petroleum supply has been raised to almost double, for the past couple of days, hu-ge crowds was seen at the major petrol pumps in the valley. The NOC officials say that short-supply has been felt for, especially petrol, within the core areas of the Kathmandu valley, due to panic in the consumers.

“People have started stocking the petroleum products — fearing that the supply could be disrupted any time — which has caused an artificial shortage,” clarifies Ichha Bikram Thapa, spokesperson at the NOC. According to him, NOC has supplied more than one-and-a-half times the normal demand in the Kathmandu valley on Sunday and on Tuesday.

NOC through its Thankot depot released 290,000 litres of petrol on Sunday and 276,000 litres on Tuesday, whereas the valley’s normal demand stands only at 1,80,000 litres a day. “It clearly shows that consumers have started hoarding petroleum products,” Thapa adds.

Besides petrol, shortage of cooking gas (LPG) has also hit the valley hard, as major gas suppliers say that they have not been able to meet the increased demand after the Tarai unrest earlier this month. Thapa blames the shortage of LPG in the valley, again, to the ‘new-habbit’ of hoarding by the consumers.

On the other hand, petroleum dealers say the inefficiency of government authorities and lack of consumers’ confidence on the government, including NOC, have created an artificial shortage. “Consumers are yet not convinced that the supply is (and will be) smooth. We are trying our best to supply as per the demands,” says Shiva Prasad Ghimire, president of Nepal Petroleum Dealers’ Association (NPDA).

Ghimire also agrees that NOC is supplying an adequate amount of petroleum products. But he is not happy with the supply pattern in the valley, which is ‘too bureaucratic’. “The supply pattern is responsible for the current situation,” he adds. According to him, the petroleum supply situation in the valley has remained disturbed for last one-and-a-half years but the government has turned deaf ears to this problem.

Lilen Pradhan of Three Brothers Oil Store at New Baneshwor also agrees that impractical supply system in the core areas of valley is responsible for the current artificial-shortage. “It’s because of the negligence of the government in addressing the problem,” he says.

Pradhan suggests that NOC should release sufficient amount of petrol to those pumps, where the demand is high and make sure that the supply is smooth. “Despite having understood the degree of problem, the concerned authorities have not tried to solve it in time. This is resulting in prolongation of the problem and panic buying,” he says.

Supply committee meet

KATHMANDU: Supply Management Committee on Tuesday held a meeting at the ministry of industry, commerce and supplies (MoICS) and discussed on how to supply petro-products smoothly, states a press release issued by the MoISC. — HNS