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The government’s recent monitoring of five-star hotels over LPG stocks has triggered growing concern among private-sector organisations, with business groups warning that unverified or exaggerated publicity could damage the reputation of established businesses and further undermine confidence in Nepal’s investment and tourism environment.

The controversy intensified after the Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection conducted inspections of several five-star hotels last Thursday. Reports and comments surrounding the inspection created an impression that Kathmandu’s Radisson Hotel had been concealing or excessively stockpiling LPG cylinders.

The claim has since drawn objections from the Hotel Association Nepal, the Nepal Chamber of Commerce and the Gas Sellers Federation Nepal, all of which have urged the government to distinguish between legitimate commercial inventories and illegal hoarding.

The private sector’s response raises a broader question for the government: Is Nepal addressing the root cause of the LPG shortage, or is it shifting attention toward businesses that are trying to maintain adequate supplies for their operations?

Chamber questions publicity surrounding Radisson

The Nepal Chamber of Commerce, in a statement issued Sunday, expressed serious concern over comments that Radisson Hotel was maintaining an excessive stock of LPG cylinders during a monitoring visit coordinated by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies and Nepal Oil Corporation.

The Chamber said publishing incomplete or context-free information about the hotel’s LPG stock could harm the commercial reputation of an important establishment in Nepal’s tourism and hospitality industry.

According to the Chamber, a five-star hotel can consume around 50 to 60 LPG cylinders a day. Therefore, maintaining approximately 200 cylinders at the hotel should not automatically be considered abnormal or illegal.

The Chamber argued that commercial inventories must be assessed against the actual operational requirements of a business before drawing conclusions about possible wrongdoing.

“Maintaining stock required for legitimate commercial use should not, by itself, be linked to abnormal or illegal activities,” the Chamber said.

The organisation also made clear that it does not support artificial shortages, illegal trading, hoarding or activities conducted in violation of the law.

However, it warned that exaggerated publicity surrounding legitimate business activities could discourage private investment and negatively affect Nepal’s business environment.

The Chamber has urged government agencies to consult businesses and representative private-sector organisations whenever supply, regulatory or operational problems arise.

It said the government should focus on maintaining necessary regulation while simultaneously creating an environment in which legitimate businesses can operate without unnecessary obstacles.

Gas sellers accuse government of focusing on sellers instead of shortage

The Gas Sellers Federation Nepal has raised an even stronger objection to the government’s approach, accusing authorities of causing unnecessary hardship to LPG sellers in the name of monitoring.

In a statement issued Sunday, the federation claimed that the government was attempting to sell LPG itself through industries and various distribution centres while simultaneously conducting inspections of ordinary sellers.

The federation said it strongly objected to what it described as the government’s approach and urged authorities to restore LPG distribution through the established network of industries and authorised sellers.

“Consumers should not be subjected to unnecessary hardship. The government should focus on solving the actual problem,” the federation said.

Federation President Gyaneshwar Aryal said the country has been experiencing a severe shortage of cooking gas for around five months, yet the government’s response has failed to address the underlying supply problem adequately.

According to the federation, representatives of the gas industry and sellers have repeatedly publicly explained the reasons behind the shortage through the media, but Nepal Oil Corporation, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies and other government agencies have focused more on publicity and monitoring than on resolving the supply crisis.

‘Imports fell by around 50,000 metric tonnes’

The federation claimed that approximately 50,000 metric tonnes less LPG was imported during the past four months, contributing significantly to the shortage.

It further argued that the situation had become more complicated after the government adopted a system under which LPG was distributed through various centres operated by gas industries rather than through the established seller network.

According to the federation, the country already has millions of LPG cylinders circulating in the market, and the continued sale of additional new cylinders without addressing the distribution and supply imbalance could make the problem even more difficult in the coming year.

The federation has therefore called on the government to immediately review its distribution mechanism and ensure that LPG reaches consumers through an efficient and established distribution channel.

Government urged to look beyond hotel inspections

The controversy surrounding Radisson Hotel has exposed a larger issue in Nepal’s LPG market: the distinction between managing a shortage and managing its symptoms.

For a five-star hotel, uninterrupted LPG availability is not a luxury but an operational necessity. Hotels use LPG for kitchens, restaurants, banquets and other hospitality services, and maintaining several days’ worth of inventory can therefore be a normal business practice.

Consequently, simply identifying a large number of cylinders at a hotel without examining its daily consumption, procurement cycle, supply interruptions and operational requirements risks creating a misleading public narrative.

At the same time, legitimate monitoring of LPG hoarding and illegal distribution remains necessary, particularly when consumers are facing shortages.

The concern raised by private-sector organisations is therefore not against regulation itself, but against regulation without adequate context and publicity without verified facts.

Private sector warns of investment consequences

The latest dispute also comes at a sensitive time for Nepal’s tourism and hospitality industry, which is seeking to attract more international visitors and investment.

Business organisations argue that publicly associating a major international-standard hotel with alleged LPG hoarding—without clearly establishing whether the stock violated any law or supply regulation—could damage the reputation of Nepal’s hospitality industry.

Such incidents can also send a negative signal to investors, particularly international investors assessing Nepal’s regulatory predictability.

The Chamber has consequently stressed the need for fact-based information, responsible public communication and regular dialogue between government authorities and the private sector.

Government needs to address the real LPG crisis

The latest statements from the private sector should serve as a warning to the government.

If the country has genuinely been facing an LPG shortage for months, the central question should be why supply has fallen, where the distribution bottleneck exists, how much LPG is being imported, and whether the existing distribution mechanism is functioning efficiently.

Monitoring hotels and retailers may help identify individual cases of malpractice, but it cannot substitute for solving a nationwide supply problem.

The government, Nepal Oil Corporation and the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies now face pressure to provide transparent data on LPG imports, stocks, distribution and consumption.

The authorities also need to clarify whether the stock found at Radisson Hotel constituted any legal violation or was simply normal inventory required for its operations.

For the private sector, the message is increasingly clear: regulation is welcome, but arbitrary publicity, incomplete information and enforcement without consultation can undermine the very businesses and industries the government needs to support for economic growth.

The government should therefore wake up to the larger issue and move beyond inspection-driven publicity toward a transparent, data-based and coordinated solution to Nepal’s LPG supply crisis.