A team of Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) officials, who are here for negotiations with their Indian counterparts, started the documentation process on Sunday to reroute 256 loaded bullets carrying liquefied petroleum gas.

The NOC officials have planned to send the bullets—which have been stuck at the Birgunj-Raxaul border point for a month, to Nepal via the Bhairahawa-Sunauli border point after a detour of around 250km.

The NOC expects to meet the demand for cooking gas this festive season if 256 bullets reach Kathmandu within a week. Nepal’s monthly demand for LPG stands at 450 bullets. A bullet contains up to 18 tonnes of LPG which can fill 1,200 cylinders. Besides fuel tankers and gas bullets, around 2,000 cargo trucks are waiting for clearance from Indian border officials at the Raxaul to cross into Nepal.

Also on Sunday, the NOC team met S Ganguli, manager of the IOC pipelines project, and discussed the construction of the Raxaul-Amlekhgunj pipeline. IOC officials said they were unable to survey the area due to the ongoing protests in the border areas.