Gas bottlers stopped receiving purchase delivery orders from Nepal Oil Corporation from Friday to press their case for higher commission.

The state-owned oil monopoly issues purchase delivery orders to bottlers allowing them to import liquefied petroleum gas from Indian Oil Corporation. Bottlers are demanding that the operating subsidies be raised by Rs200 per cylinder including their commission.

The protest launched by bottlers violates laws prohibiting sellers of essential goods from going on strike.

The Consumer Protection Act 2018 and Essential Service Operation Act 1957 state that service providers cannot disrupt supply and delivery of essential goods.

Offenders can be jailed for one year and fined Rs1,000.

Last August, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a notice in the Nepal Gazette banning strikes and protests that can disrupt supply and delivery of essential services.

The government has declared 18 goods and services as essential—petroleum products including cooking gas, water supply, tourism sector, health services, waste management, banking, electricity supply, insurance and transportation, storage and distribution of consumer goods including rice, lentils, edible oil and salt, among others.

The laws have not deterred gas bottlers from launching a stern protest that could make life difficult for consumers. They said they would stop loading liquefied petroleum gas at Indian gas depots from Wednesday.

From March 12, the bottlers will stop loading liquefied petroleum gas at their bottling plants, and from March 14, they have threatened to stop selling cooking fuel to local gas dealers.

Gokul Bhandari, president of the Nepal LP Gas Industry Association, said they were compelled to launch the protest after their demand remained unheard for a long time.

Revising operating subsidies, scrapping unlawfully issued licences to new gas companies, bringing uniformity in gas prices in the Tarai, working effectively to operate Nepali gas bullets, and increasing the import quota based on the number of certified cylinders with gas companies are among their demands.

The Nepal Petroleum Dealers’ Association, Gas Dealers’ Federation Nepal and Nepal Petroleum Transport Entrepreneurs Association have expressed solidarity with the gas bottlers. Chandra Thapa, senior vice-president of the Gas Dealers’ Federation Nepal, said they were on the side of the gas bottlers who have been demanding a hike in the commission for gas dealers too as it has not been revised for a long time. According to him, they are urging the government to increase their commission to 6 percent of the actual cost of a cylinder of gas. Currently, the commission is Rs32 per cylinder.

The Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies said it formed a committee under Nepal Oil Corporation Acting Deputy Managing Director Nagendra Sah on Friday to address the problem. “The committee has been given three weeks to sort out the issue,” said Kedar Bahadur Adhikari, secretary of the ministry.

Bhandari said that they could not wait that long. “We have been urging the government to solve the problem within a week,” he said.

Nepal Oil Corporation Spokesperson Birendra Kumar Goit said they had invited the protesting gas bottlers for talks.

“However, they have shown absolutely no interest,” said Goit, adding that the corporation and the ministry had formed a joint team to study the status of gas distribution.

Consumer rights activists said the government should act in time to safeguard consumer rights. “The authorities should work to fulfil the legitimate demands of gas bottlers too without hampering consumer interests,” said Madhav Timilsina, president of the Consumers Rights Investigation Forum.