Govt, bottlers, dealers in blame game as LP gas supply worsens

KATHMANDU, Jan 15:

Liquefied petroleum (LP) gas, a popular cooking fuel, is in short supply for the past one and half months. The shortage is worsening with every passing day as the government has failed to take action against people involved in creating artificial shortage in the market.

While LP gas dealers defend themselves saying that the bottlers have not supplied them LP gas in sufficient quantity, bottlers blame the shortage to hoarding of LP gas by dealers and consumers and the unwillingness of Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) to increase supply quota to bottlers. Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) -- the state-owned petroleum products monopolist -- is yet to find out the actual reason behind the shortage.

NOC officials, however, say they have increased supplies to end shortage at the earliest. "We have increased supply quota for January to 25,000 tons, compared to 18,886 tons supplied a month earlier," Mukunda Ghimire, spokesperson of NOC, told Republica, adding“"It is surprising that the market is still facing shortage even though two weeks (of January) have already elapsed."

LP gas dealers say bottlers are not supplying cylinders in sufficient quantity. "NOC´s supply was already insufficient. Reluctance of bottlers to supply cylinders to dealers as per the market demand has aggravated the situation," Chandra Thapa, general secretary of Gas Dealers´ Federation Nepal, said. "Bottlers are sending only new cylinders into the market to press NOC for raising their supply quota."

Bottlers, however, refute the charges leveled on them by the dealers.“"We have been bottling and sending LP gas in the market as per the supply that we receive," Shiva Ghimire, president of Nepal LP Gas Industry Association, said, adding that hoarding by dealers and consumers is to be blamed for the shortage.“"We have been sending around 60,000 cylinders in the market on a daily basis. This should be sufficient to make the situation normal."

Consumer rights activists like Jyoti Baniya, general secretary of Forum for Protection of Consumers´ Rights, blame the government, dealers and bottlers all for the present shortage. "Dealers and bottlers are creating artificial shortage of LP gas for their personal benefits. State machineries seem to working hand in glove with them. They have been doing nothing to improve availability of LP gas and take action against the guilty," he added.

´PLOY´ TO SELL NEW CYLINDERS

Government officials have found ample proof of bottlers and dealers joining hands to create artificial shortage of LP gas for selling new cylinders. In course of market inspections, government officials found that many bottlers were readily sending new cylinders to the market, but not refilling old cylinders. A new depot of Sugam Gas Industry in New Baneshwar, for example, was not providing LP gas to consumers even though it had 140 cylinders in stock. It, however, was providing LP gas to consumers willing to buy new cylinders.

Sugam Gas Industry is owned by Ghimire -- the president of Nepal LP Gas Industry Association.

In another incident, Metropolitan Police Circle Gaushala arrested Yamuna Gaire, the owner of MM Store in Sinamangal, after finding that the store was selling only new cylinders instead of exchanging with empty cylinders. She was charging more than Rs 4,000 per cylinder which costs less than Rs 3,800.
Though the government arrested a small-time dealer, it has been failing to take action against bigwigs like Ghimire. By not taking action against Ghimire, the government is only encouraging foul players.

Kathmandu CDO Ek Narayan Aryal said the local administration could not take action against Ghimire as the monitoring report submitted by NOC was ´weak´. "We cannot initiate any action on the basis of such weak report," he added.

NOC officials say they do not have authority to take action against the wrongdoers.

CONSUMERS ALSO RESPONSIBLE FOR SHORTAGE

Panicked by shortage, many consumers are purchasing new cylinders to boost their stock for future use. Bottlers like Ghimire and dealers say panicked buying from consumers is one of the reasons that have aggravated LP gas shortage.

As LP gas shortage is affecting daily life of people, the government should immediately do the needful for normalizing LP gas supply. It should intensify market monitoring activities, take needful action against the foul players and, if necessary, increase supply quota of dealers after analyzing demand supply situation in the market.

"We have put our maximum efforts to normalize the situation," Deepak Subedi, joint secretary of Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS) said, adding,“"With increased supply and regular monitoring, we are hopeful that the situation will become normal soon”"

Source: Republica