Kathmandu, January 8:

Serpentine queues of impatient people cursing under their breath are a common sight at the Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinder dealers’ shops in the Valley as the govenrment is unable to supply the requisite number of LPG cylinders to consumers.

“The Valley is still in short supply of LPG cylinders,” Bibendra Pradhan, president of the LPG Dealers’ Association (LDA) said, adding that supply was miserably below the level of demand.

Bharat Bahadur Thapa, secretary to the Ministry of Industries, Commerce and Supplies, said that though the ministry had managed to import 400 tonnes of LPG from India on Friday, the situation was far from normal. He, however, assured the government would bring the situation under control in a few days. Thapa said 150 tonnes of LPG is being imported from India daily.

LDA prez Pradhan said Kathmandu Valley needs at least 15,000-20,000 LPG cylinders daily. There are 20 LPG-filling companies in the country.

Pradhan said companies having fewer cylinders are getting more quanity of LPG and that the companies having adequate number of cylinders are getting less quantity of LPG from the goverment, which is one cause of the shortage.

According to the LDA, though there are over 1,000 gas supply depots in the Valley most of them don’t have enough stocks. As a result, the depots are finding it hard to cater to consumers.

Narabhupal Maharjan, owner of a gas depot in Old Baneshwor, said he was hard put to meet

consumers’ demands, adding, “There is a a daily deposit of 10-15 empty cylinders in my shop.”

According to Maharjan, consumers have to wait for four to five days to exchange the empty cylinders with full ones.