Kathmandu, April 18:

With no vehicle carrying petroleum products entering Kathmandu Valley in last 12 days, people here have started to panic.

The increasing price of essential commodities and the shortage of LPG and kerosene in the market has led Sundari Rai of Anamnagar to close down her small restaurant.

“The shortage of LPG and kerosene, and the increasing price of vegetables and other essentials left me with no option but to close my restaurant. Given the present situation, I cannot even earn enough to pay the rent.”

Another restaurateur, Kabindra Shrestha, of Thankot VDC-7, said he would have to cook his food on firewood after a few days. “We may survive as we don’t have to pay any rent. We have also increased the price of food items,” he said. Many people in the Valley have been using the extra LPG cylinder in their stock but they have failed to exchange the used cylinders. Even the limited stock of the cylinders have been stuck at various gas companies due to the risks involved in their transportation.

Savana Pradhan, a shopkeeper at Gwarko, said at least half a dozen people come to her shop looking for LPG everyday. Pradhan, though managed to secure herself a cylinder from the nearby Baba Gas Company Pvt Ltd — which has sold some 700 cylinders in the last two days.

Gas dealer Chandrawati Gopali of Bikeraj Khaddya Stores at Thankot said no gas cylinders have been supplied since the beginning of the general strike. “Many people come to the store looking for LPG cylinders, but we don’t have any.”

Kerosene dealer Anup Shrestha of Thankot said the security forces had not escorted his tanker. “I brought 4,000 litres of kerosene in a tanker at my own risk,” he said. Shrestha used to sell 30,000 litres of kerosene a month. “I wonder how to distribute the small amount of kerosene I have to all these people,” he told this reporter pointing to the long line of gallons.

Bhaktapur, too, is not untouched by this problem. People have been searching for LPG cylinders at different places but to no avail. “You will not get an LPG cylinder even if you pay Rs 2,000,” said a housewife at Barahi of Bhaktapur Municipality.

Meanwhile, Arjun Panta at the Ministry of Commerce, Industries and Supplies, said the cause of the LPG shortage was the lack of transportation facilities to ferry cylinders from various companies to local depots. The government is looking into the problem, he added.