Most of the private petrol pumps operating in the valley bore a deserted look on Tuesday as most of the gasoline stations were closed, hanging the information board of ‘No Petrol’. Although Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) claimed to be supplying adequate quantity of the petroleum products, motorists are once again struggling to receive fuel.  

According to the petroleum dealers, they were compelled to close their outlets as NOC has cut the quantity that it used to supply on normal days. “On the pretext of various reasons, the state-owned enterprise has reduced the supply,” said Lilendra Prasad Pradhan, president of Nepal Petroleum Dealers’ Association. 

On purview of the second phase local election, the government has sealed the Nepal-India borders for three days starting from Monday. The second phase election is being held in three Tarai based provinces. NOC on the other hand claimed that there was no disruption in petroleum supply. NOC’s Spokesperson Sitaram Pokharel said the abrupt rise in demand and the public holiday that fell on weekend and Monday had created the problem in managing the supply. As per NOC, people were panicked by a group of petroleum dealers’ call for protest that they had planned to launch from July 4. Petroleum dealers from the Kathmandu Valley, Nuwakot, Dhading and Kavrepalanchok on Saturday warned NOC that they would stop purchasing petroleum from NOC products if the enterprise did not address the problem of shrinkage loss on time. 

Likewise, the state-owned oil monopoly did not sell fuel on Saturday and Monday due to public holidays. With the short supply, motorists’ queue had started to appear in the refilling centres since Sunday. 

Pokharel said they had sold 850 kl of petrol alone on Sunday citing the surge in demand. According to him, the enterprise also sold 900 kl of petrol on Tuesday too. “The quantity is almost double compared to the daily demand of 450 kl for petrol in the Kathmandu Valley.”

The association’s president Pradhan claimed that NOC sold only 750 kl of petrol on Tuesday. According to him, NOC has been selling low quantity of fuel which highlights the cause of disruption in supply due to landslide at Mugling-Narayanghat segment of Tribhuvan Highway. The highway is the main route for supplying fuel in the valley.

NOC, on the other hand, suspected the escalating fuel shortage to a number of petroleum dealers being involved in black-marketing of the products. Netra Kafle, chief of NOC’s Thankot Depot, said there was no disruption in fuel supply due to landslide or local election. “The shortage could be the result of consumers’ overstocking the fuel or the petroleum dealers hoarding the products based on the soaring demand,” said Kafle adding that they had supplied 2,600 kl of petrol since Friday. 

The consumers’ right activists suspected the alliance of NOC and the dealers for black-marketing of the fuel. “It is not mere coincidence that there is massive shortage just due to NOC failing to supply fuel on single public holiday,” said Jyoti Baniya, president of Consumers’ Welfare Protection Forum.