PAC directs Commerce Ministry and NOC to ease fuel supplies; Govt. forms committee for talks

Meeting of the Public Account Committee.

Kathmandu / October 9: The Public Accounts Committee under the Legislature-Parliament today has directed the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies and Nepal Oil Corporation to initiate measures to ease the supplies of petroleum products.

The committee has further directed the concerned bodies to accept the proposal within two hours when any organization submits proposal for supplying the fuel as the NOC had issued a global bid for the purpose.

Similarly, the committee has directed to accept the proposal of the Nepal LP Gas Industry Association to fill the LP gas cylinders in China, said the committee chair Janardan Sharma. Similarly, the committee has decided to invite the Prime Minister and the Supplies Minister to its meeting on Saturday to share to the committee preparations made to ease the supplies.

The committee has further directed the government to intensify the diplomatic initiations to ease the supply as the people were facing acute shortage of fuels after the undeclared border blockade imposed by India.

Members of parliament had expressed their dissatisfactions on the dilly-dallying of the government to ease the supplies.

On the concerns of fuel crisis in the country due to the restriction by India on the border, Giri Bahadur KC, Minister of State for Commerce and Supplies, said that diplomatic efforts are going on to ease the supply of petroleum products. He said that efforts are focused on taking all types of measures to end the fuel crisis and that he believes the problems would end within some days.

Likewise, Jibaraj Koirala, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies, said that the stock of petroleum products is depleting fast and that the situation would get worsened further if effective solution to the problem were not sought immediately.

He informed that the Nepal Oil Corporation has 1,984 kiloliters petrol, 997 kiloliters diesel, 1,447 kiloliters kerosene and 1,142 kiloliters aviation fuel in stock so far.

On the issue of ending the fuel crisis, Revenue Secretary Rajan Khanal said that efforts were being made to find alternative means to find a way out of the problem, but to no avail, calling for initiations to resolve the matter at the political level rather than administrative one.

He said that discussions were held on the possibility to bring in petroleum products from Kerung of China, adding that the concerned ministry was ready to establish customs office on the Nepal-China border and manage necessary employees for that purpose.

Likewise, Shiva Prasad Ghimire, chairman of the NLPGIA said that they could import 30,000 to 40,000 kilolitres LP gas from Nyalam of Khasa of Tibet autonomous region of China if permitted and that the China side has also expressed its readiness for the same. RSS

The government has formed a committee under the convenorship of the Minister for Foreign Affairs Mahendra Bahadur Pandey to hold talks with India for easing the supply of essential goods including the petroleum products.

A meeting of the Council of Ministers held at the Prime Minister’s residence at Baluwatar on Friday constituted the committee. The Chief Secretary Dr Somlal Subedi and the Secretary at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies Ngaindra Prasad Upadhyaya are the members of the committee.

The government also constituted a committee comprising the Minister for Commerce and Supplies Sunil Bahadur Thapa, the Chief Secretary Subedi, the Finance Secretary and the Commerce Secretary to carry out a study on the alternative means and the demand regarding the importation of petroleum products and to make a recommendation on this to the government.

Likewise, the Cabinet meeting constituted a committee under the chairmanship of the National Planning Commission (NPC) Vice Chairman to recommend to the government on the ways of promoting the use and production of alternative energy. The Secretary at the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, the Finance Secretary and the Secretary at the Ministry of Energy are the members of this committee.

Minister Rijal said a decision was also taken in today’s Cabinet meeting regarding releasing at the earliest the shortfall amount on the Rs 750,000 that the government had earlier decided to provide to the dependants of the 164 police personnel who laid down their lives in course of the conflict.

The Cabinet meeting removed Purna Shankar BC as the General Manager of the National Trading Limited and appointed Satya Narayan Mehata to the post. Similarly, it appointed Kedar Prasad Saha to the post of the Executive Director of the Student Financial Support Development Committee.

The government has decided to provide Rs 300 thousand to mountaineer Min Bahadur Sherchan, who climbed Mt Sagarmatha at the age of 76. RSS