Nov 3, 2015- The government has directed LPG dealers to provide details of cooking gas, including quantity imported from India to Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC).

It is said that the government took this measure for effective distribution of cooking gas amidst acute shortage of gas cylinders.

The Ministry of Commerce and Supplies issued a directive requiring LPG dealers to provide particulars regarding volume of gas imported as well as its sale and distribution mechanism.

The Ministry has asked for details regarding amount of gas bullets imported from India, name of the LPG industry, date for refilling, name of the dealers, sellers and distributors to whom cooking gas is supplied. Such details are to be submitted on a regular basis to a control room set up at NOC.

It has also given the fax number for providing this information. The fax number is 4263499. The Ministry has warned of taking stern action against LPG indistries not providing the details on a regular basis.

Shiva Prasad Tripathi, Under-Secretary at the Ministry, said the directive had to be issued after LPG industries started distributing cooking gas from the industries’ plants itself.

Meanwhile, the government has constituted a six-member fuel management mechanism under the coordination of the Director of the Department of Commerce and Supplies Management for fair distribution of available fuel.

Under-Secretary Tripathi said a high-level mechanism has been formed as it was found that there were malpractices in distribution of cooking gas, such that LPG cylinders were distributed from industries itself, retail sellers were not supplied cooking gas and distribution was disproportional.

There are more than 6,000 LPG dealers in Kathmandu Valley. Around 6.2 million LPG cylinders in use in the country and two million cylinders are used monthly.

The country is reeling under acute shortage of LPG due to the agitation in the Terai which is ongoing for more than two months now and over-one-month undeclared border blockade imposed by India on Nepal. The daily demand for LPG in the Capital stands at 50,000 cylinders.