Anyone found keeping excess stock will be fined up to Rs 300,000: Department of Commerce

The government has intensified market inspection in the Kathmandu Valley amid mounting shortage of cooking gas in the wake of upcoming election.

Narahari Tiwari, director at the Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumers Protection (DoCSCP), said a joint team comprising representatives from the department, Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) and the Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology have started market inspection from Monday. According to him, the market regulator launched the initiative citing increasing complaints filed at the DoCSCP against the ongoing shortage of the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

As per the DoCSCP, a total of four inspection teams have been mobilized to monitor distribution of LPG by large dealers of cooking gas in Kirtipur, Kuleshwor, Kalanki, Sohrakhutte, Balaju, Gongabu Bus Park, Koteshwor and Bhaktapur areas. Apart from the dealers, the teams will also look after the business outlets, hotels and restaurants to cross-check possible hoarding of cooking gas.

Tiwari said the inspection teams have been authorized to slap a cash fine of up to Rs 300,000 if anyone is found keeping excessive stock of cooking gas.

Since the past few weeks, the valley denizens have been struggling to get daily household essentials. Babita Karki, a resident of Pasikot, Budhanilkantha, said she has been kept on queue to purchase a cylinder full of cooking gas for the past three weeks, but it is still uncertain when she will get the kitchen essential.

According to the NOC, the country requires around 90 LPG bullets, equivalent to approximately 114,000 cylinders, on a daily basis. Gas bottlers however said that the demand has jumped by around 15 percent due to the ongoing winter season and households stepping up to hoard excessive LPG citing possible shortage during election, which is almost three weeks away.

The NOC, on the other hand, claims that it has been issuing 10 percent more purchase delivery orders to ensure smooth supply. Based on the purchase delivery orders issued by the NOC, gas importers collect LPG from the depots of Indian Oil Corporation located in Barauni, Mathura and Haldia in India.

As per the NOC officials, the general public, misled by rumors, has created an artificial shortage of cooking gas at present. Although the NOC has been urging the consumers time and again not to stockpile cooking gas unnecessarily, the situation has not been better off.