- Due to lack of timely supply, consumers with only one cylinder have to wait for 5-7 days for gas completion

- The demand for gas increases by about 30 percent in winter, but the common people do not get it on time, the government should facilitate it as soon as possible. - Chandra Thapa, President, Gas Sellers Federation

- Apart from Nepal Gas, there is no problem, we have issued as many PDOs as requested but they did not deliver on time - Virendra Goit, Deputy Executive Director, Oil Corporation

According to the Gas Dealers Federation, the consumption of cooking gas increases by about 30 percent in winter than in summer. Even though there is no official data, Nepal Oil Corporation and LP Gas Industry Association also say that gas consumption will increase in cold weather.

The temperature in the valley has been decreasing for the past few days. At this time, there is a problem in the supply of gas, which is consumed more.

Although there is no reason for disruption in gas transportation, there is a shortage in gas markets including Nepal, Tara, Nepal Gandaki, HP, Rajdhani, Triveni, Om, Aarti. The Gas Sellers Federation has informed the Oil Corporation on Friday after the gas shortage of these brands started to appear.

There was a shortage of Nepal Gas in the market since Dashain. This gas is mostly sold in the valley, but most of the dealers don’t have gas at all,” said a gas seller, “Recently, the same problem has been seen with other gas. More gas is consumed in winter months, but Nepal, Tara, Nepal Gandaki, HP, Rajdhani, Triveni, Om, Aarti and other gas are scarce.’

The seller said that consumers who have only one gas cylinder will face many problems due to lack of timely gas supply. In the past, it could be filled immediately, now there is a shortage. Consumers who have only one cylinder have to wait for at least 5/7 days after running out of gas in their house,’ said the seller, ‘We have informed the corporation about this problem.’

Federation president Chandra Thapa also confirmed that there is a problem in gas supply when the demand has increased. He said that since Dashain, some dealers have received less gas. “Winter months are the season when demand for gas increases. Demand increases by about 30 percent in winter compared to summer, but the common people have not received it on time,’ President Thapa said, ‘Government and gas industry should make it easy as soon as possible.’ Some companies have received very little gas. We have drawn the attention of the corporation about the reason, said Thapa, “We have drawn the attention of the corporation about the fact that the gas industry has not transported gas or that the corporation has made a mistake in issuing the product delivery order (PDO).

59 gas industries throughout the country are For those gas industries, the corporation has been issuing PDOs of about 45,000 tons of gas per month. In that sense, the corporation argues that there should not be a shortage in the market. Shiv Ghimire, president of LP Gas Industry Association, said that there is no problem in gas transportation. He claimed that although there are some problems with Nepal gas in the market, there is no shortage of other gas.

I have heard that there is a management problem in Nepal Gas, apart from that there is no reason for gas shortage. In the case of other gas, there has not been so much problem,” said President Ghimire. He said that due to the increase in the number of gas cylinder users and the number of cylinders, there has been some impact even though the quota has not been increased accordingly. According to the gas cylinder certification done by

corporation in 078, there are 14.4 million cylinders across the country. Recently the number of cylinders has been increased. But the regulatory body has not paid much attention to the condition of these cylinders. Madhav Timilsina, President of the Consumer Rights Research Forum, said that the problem with gas is due to the weakness of the management. He said that Taluk authorities should intervene immediately to eliminate the shortage in the market.

The corporation is politically and financially strong. There is no reason why there should be a shortage of gas due to disruption in transportation, but there is a shortage of gas in some companies in the market,” said Timilsina, “this shows the weakness of the corporation’s management. The taluk body should intervene immediately to prevent shortage. Birendra Goit, deputy executive director of the

corporation, claimed that there is no problem other than Nepal Gas. He said that while 40,000 to 45,000 tons of PDO was released in summer, more than 45,000 tons were released in winter.

‘Now the problem is in Nepal Gas, the corporation has given as much PDO as requested, but they have not taken the PDO. Although there is no problem in gas loading, the industrialists did not bring enough,” said Goit, “that’s why there is some problem in Nepal gas. Others don’t have that much problem.’

According to him, Nepal Gas has received about 2 thousand tons of PDO per month. He said that PDO will also be added according to the demand of industrialists. “There are most cylinders of Nepal gas in the valley, but only a small amount of gas has been brought, that’s why some problems have been seen,” said Goit, “we have sent letters to the industrialists to understand the problem that is happening now. We have called for a discussion on Monday.’

After the Corporation issues the gas PDO, the gas industry imports gas from Barauni, Durgapur, Paradeep, Haldia, Mathura refineries of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). Gas is transported through Indian transporters.

Gokul Bhandari, the owner of Nepal Gas, claimed that there are two main reasons for the gas shortage. According to him, the Indian transporter has been pressuring to increase the fare. They have also sent a letter asking not to increase the rent.

‘The rent will be increased by the corporation, if the rent is not increased, they did not do the transportation properly. “There was some problem when the gas bullet did not come on time,” Bhandari said. According to Bhandari, another reason is that Indian transporters have started replacing old bullets with new ones. He claims that there is also a problem due to low availability of gas bullets in transportation. “Transportation will be easier from Monday,” he said, “the matter of increasing the fare remains the same.”

Source: Kantipur