Kathmandu, June 4

Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supply Matrika Yadav has said petroleum products are being smuggled to India from Nepal because these products are cheaper in Nepal.

Nepal has been supplying petroleum products as per the agreement between Nepal Oil Corporation and Indian Oil Corporation, he said.

“Indian vehicles come to Nepal, fill up petroleum products and go back to India because our prices are lower than in India” he said in the Parliament today. Lawmakers, including opposition lawmaker Uma Regmi had raised the issue of petroleum products price hike in the Parliament.

According to Minister Yadav, petrol is Rs 22 less per litre and diesel Rs 25 less per litre in Nepal than in India after hiking the prices of these fuels by Rs 3 per litre. “We have been following the international market price” he said. According to him, NOC will lose Rs 370 million after hiking the prices of these petroleum products.

Minister Yadav also said that scarcity of petroleum products will be a problem when supply becomes irregular even for a few days. “Our storage capacity is not enough, so the government has to have in place other storage facilities for petroleum products,” he said.