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Industry, Commerce and Supplies Minister Gauri Kumari Yadav has resigned from her post amid growing criticism over her handling of Nepal’s worsening LPG shortage and controversial remarks against gas industry operators.

Yadav submitted her resignation to Prime Minister Balen Shah, according to her communications coordinator.

Her resignation comes a day after she made controversial remarks during a parliamentary committee meeting, blaming LPG industry operators for the shortage and calling for strict action against them.

Speaking at the Industry, Commerce and Supplies Committee meeting on Wednesday morning, Yadav said, ‘The current gas shortage has been caused by the industrialists. The shortage will not ease until the gas industrialists are brought under control.’

She went further, questioning the need for the country’s existing LPG industry infrastructure and suggesting that the licences of all 58 operating gas industries should be cancelled.

‘The country does not need so many gas industries; even two would be enough,’ she had said.

Her remarks triggered strong opposition from LPG industry operators, who objected to what they described as threatening and confrontational language. Industry representatives also brought the issue to the attention of the Prime Minister.

The resignation comes as Kathmandu Valley faces a severe shortage of cooking gas. Consumers have been forced to spend hours, and in some cases days, waiting in queues to obtain a single LPG cylinder.

Even when cylinders are available, consumers have reported paying significantly above the official price. A cylinder officially priced at around Rs 2,060 has reportedly been sold for as much as Rs 3,000 in some places.

The government and Nepal Oil Corporation have continued releasing figures showing LPG imports and supplies, but the situation reported by consumers on the ground remains markedly different.

The shortage has been aggravated by transportation disruptions following the subsidence of the road at Krishnabhir from Bhadra 14, restricting the movement of LPG into Kathmandu and other markets. Although supplies have been brought through alternative routes, distribution has remained difficult.

Critics have questioned whether the government has been able to effectively manage the crisis at a time when consumers are struggling to obtain an essential household commodity.

The minister’s confrontation with gas operators also exposed a structural weakness in Nepal’s LPG supply system. The government itself does not operate the infrastructure necessary to import, store and distribute LPG at the scale required by the country.

All 58 LPG bottling plants currently operating in Nepal are privately owned. Nepal Oil Corporation, the state-owned petroleum supplier, does not own a single LPG bottling plant.

Salt Trading Corporation, in which the government holds a 20 percent stake, also sells LPG, but its supply is far from sufficient to meet national demand.

Nepal also lacks its own LPG transport fleet. Private gas companies rely heavily on Indian LPG bullets to transport imported gas, resulting in billions of rupees in annual transportation payments flowing out of the country.

Industry representatives argue that these structural limitations make the government’s confrontational approach toward private operators difficult to understand.

Yadav had also expressed frustration during the parliamentary meeting, saying that ministry officials had not fully cooperated with her efforts to take action against gas operators.

Her resignation therefore comes at a politically sensitive moment, as the LPG crisis continues to expose weaknesses not only in market management but also in Nepal’s broader energy-supply infrastructure.

For consumers waiting in long queues, however, the immediate concern remains unchanged: when will cooking gas become normally available again, and at the official price?