Kathmandu, December 29:

The parliamentary Labour and Industrial Relations Committee today asked Minister of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Shyam Sundar Gupta, to be present at the committee with all necessary documents justifying the shortage of petroleum products despite the price hike.

However, Gupta did not appear before the committee and this has led the commitee to decide to write a letter to Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and Speaker of the Parliament Subash Nemwang informing Minister’s Gupta’s absence in the committee despite the committee’s call. The committee also passed condemnation proposat against Gupta’s defiance of its summon. “We have called him twice but he ignored tour call,” lawmaker and Chief Whip of CPN-UML Mahendra Pandey said.

Lawmaker and member of the committee Parsuram Meghi Gurung charged Gupta with ignoring the committee’s invitation. “Gupta has to furnish details to us and expose the irregularities inside the Nepal Oil Corporation,” Gurung said at the committee meeting held at Singha Durbar today.