Kathmandu, February 3:

Members of the civil society today suggested the government to come up with a long-term strategy and maintain transparency in the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) to put an end to petroleum shortage once and for all.

President of the National Consumers’ Forum (NCF) Prem Lal Maharjan said the government should prepare a national strategy to ease supply of petroleum products. He criticised the government for not paying attention towards the sufferings of the people. “The government has remained indifferent towards hardships faced by people due to the shortage of petroleum products,” he said at an interaction organised by the NCF. Advocate Manohar Karki said the shortage of petroleum products was caused due to corruption committed by bureaucrats and ministers. “A high-level committee should be formed to identify the guilty and punish them.”

Bishwo Aryal, spokesperson for the Nepal Petroleum Dealers’ Association, said the government should take the consumers into confidence before increasing the prices of petroleum products. He requested the government to make the prices of kerosene and diesel equal to prevent adulteration.

Dinesh Bidari of the National Transport Management Association said, “We also want to ensure the use of unadulterated petroleum products, but the government does not have any policy to bring us together to fight against adulteration.”