Rationing from today

•    Three litres a week for two-wheelers

•    Ten litres a week for private cars

•    10 litres a day for taxis

•    15 litres a day for micro-buses

•    20 litres a day for minibuses

•    30 litres a day for bigger public vehicles

Kathmandu, September 27

Nepal Oil Corporation will enforce rationing of fuel, as its stock has begun dwindling following continuous obstruction in the supply of petroleum products from India by protesters in the Tarai.

The state-owned petroleum supply monopoly today took the decision to implement the rationing system from Monday and has fixed quota for different vehicle types, according to NOC spokesperson Deepak Baral. As per the decision, two-wheelers will get three litres and private cars 10 litres of fuel, per week.

For public vehicles fuel will be distributed on the basis of ‘odd-even’ licence plate system on alternate days. In this regard, taxis will get 10 litres, micro-buses 15 litres, minibuses 20 litres and bigger public vehicles 30 litres per day, Baral told The Himalayan Times.

“To implement the rationing system effectively, NOC has decided to ask fuel station attendants to stamp the ‘bill book’ (vehicle registration document) of the concerned vehicles after filling fuel.”

The Ministry of Home Affairs implemented ‘odd-even’ rule (except for vehicles belonging to security agencies, essential supplies and ambulances) from Sunday considering the supply crunch of petroleum products.

Due to delays in customs clearance procedures by the Indian customs and the protest of the Tarai-based political parties, only a handful of fuel tankers have entered Nepal in the last four days. NOC has said the quota system would be removed once there is smooth supply of petroleum products from India to Nepal.

NOC has said they it will be able to cater to the demand for the next two weeks from the existing stock it has.

It has already informed international airline companies about the recent fuel crisis in the country and requested them to carry sufficient fuel from their base stations.

According to Baral, the existing stock of aviation turbine fuel is sufficient to meet the demand till next month.

Though NOC has been managing the supply of petrol, diesel and aviation fuel, the scarcity of cooking gas has already hit parts of the country. The country is totally reliant on Indian transporters to ferry cooking gas to Nepal and reportedly, they have been hesitant to ferry cooking gas citing security concerns due to the simmering protest in the Tarai.