Half-filled LPG cylinders to be available from tomorrow

Kathmandu October  29- Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS) on Wednesday gave its go-ahead to bottlers to sell half-filled cooking-gas cylinders.

 

A normal cylinder has 14.2kg gas. “The ministry’s move is aimed at providing the gas to more consumers,” Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) Director Nagendra Sah said, acknowledging the receipt of a ministry letter to this effect. He added the provision, however, was not mandatory.

 

According to the NOC, 44 LPG bullets that entered Nepal this week are ready for distribution. These bullets entered through Bhairahawa, Dhangadhi, Kakadbhitta and Biratnagar customs points. At a time when Nepalese  gas dealers are facing immense pressure to meet the overwhelming demand, the provision will ease the distribution.

 

However, there are concerns the bottlers might abuse the provision to sell underweight cylinders as the bottlers have been found involved in such malpractices even during normal times.

 

Meanwhile, the government on Wednesday decided to bear the additional transport costs to bring in the gas bullets from alternative routes. The bottlers had been reluctant to sell LPG citing the additional costs they had to bear while re-routing the gas bullets.

 

 After a month of the India-imposed unofficial trade blockade, NOC has taken steps to re-route the LPG bullets from the Raxaul-Birgunj trade route. According to the NOC a total of 225 gas bullets have been stuck on the Indian side of the border due to the obstruction.