The Himalayan Times_ Perspectives

April 10, 2016

What’s COOKING ?

Tall on gas and short on action, inaction by authorities to blame for LPG crisis

Soni Rai

Kathmandu

T he long line of consumers with empty cylinders in front of every LPG dealer and distributor proves that consumers are still plagued by the unsolved cooking gas shortage. Yet nobody in authority seems too bothered to solve this major problem of a basic necessity. “ It’s been days since I have been queuing for gas and have to return empty handed as the gas doesn’t arrive at the dealer’s distribution point,” says a resident of Basundhara. “ As I have to go to work and cannot wait the whole day, I have to manage without gas,” says Asha Bishowkarma, a resident of Maharajgunj.

According to the Nepal L P Gas Industry Association, the current problems faced by consumers is to be blamed directly on an inactive and unconcerned government, as market demand is not being fulfilled by Nepal Oil Corporation ( NOC). There is no proper Act for LPG in Nepal and this is the reason behind the chaos and black marketing while NOC distributors and dealers play the blame game.

 THE ROOT PROBLEM

 Baburam Humagain, General Secretary of the Forum for Protection of Consumer Rights Nepal, says, “ Consumers are facing huge problems related to acute shortage of LPG. Consumers with high purchasing power and business establishments prefer to buy new cylinders ( at a premium) instead of waiting in the queue. So there is no real problem for those who can afford to buy a new cylinder in the black market.” According to him, gas dealers obviously prefer to sell new cylinders at a premium to those who can afford, such as restaurants and industries. This has led to a trend of hoarding and encouraging the buying of new cylinders rather than refilling old ones.

“ There should also be a provision that consumers be allowed to buy and refill any brand cylinder from any gas dealer because ultimately quality, quantity and price of all are the same,” he says adding that if one gas company is not supplying then consumers should be allowed to exchange it easily for another. “ The practice of paying extra for a new cylinder must be stopped as it only helps to expand the market of a particular dealer,” he says.

CLUELESS AUTHORITIES 

He further says, “ Right now the government is clueless and says that the shortage is because people are hoarding it due to a sense of insecurity.

However, the government is weak and yet to come with a policy or inform consumers about a solution to the current crisis.” According to him, if the gas dealers and the government work together to ensure smooth supply then the problem can be solved very soon.

Gokul Prasad Dhital, Director General at the Department of Supply Management and Protection of Consumer Interest says, “ In Nepal there are 6.2 million cylinders in circulation. It takes times to refill it and send them back to the market.” However, he admits there are problems with dealers not supplying gas in an effective way and encouraging people to buy new cylinders by paying extra.

“ We are investigating and sending our supply management team to dealers to properly evaluate the situation. They are deployed to find out whether consumers’ are getting cooking gas or not,” adds Dhital. “ In some places our supply management team have distributed cylinders to consumers who haven’t got cylinders for many days. It has been brought to our notice that some dealers hoard cylinders. Soon we will hold them responsible for these misconducts,” he assures. However, till date not a single dealer has been booked or seriously taken to task, despite obvious discrepancies in distribution.

Dhital also says that they are in continuous discussion with NOC about how to ensure smooth flow of LPG to dealers. He insists that for proper supply of LPG there must be the implementation of a card system. For instance, blue cylinders for business purpose and red cylinders for household consumer purpose.

SUPPLY DOES NOT MEET DEMAND 

Kush Prasad Mally, Vice- President of Nepal L P Gas Industry Association, says, “ Every winter the demand for LPG rises by 20 per cent, which is an indicator for the government to increase supply, but this never happens.” According to him, from mid November to February every year the problem of LPG shortage arises. “ NOC is a state- owned entity and should charge according to global market prices. Instead they try to show consumers that they are supplying LPG at a loss and hence supply does not meet demand,” says Mally, adding that even LPG storage facilities are inadequate.

He points out, “ There are approximately 25,000 LPG dealers in the country yet there is no fixed policy that they abide by which leads to black marketing. The only solution is proper policy and inspection by the government.” According to him, the government should encourage the private sector to come up with business plans so that private companies too can import LPG according to the increasing demand of consumers. Due to lack of proper policy the private sectors are hesitant to invest and the government has not been able to ensure smooth supply.

MORE PROMISES 

Mukunda Ghimire, Spokesperson of Nepal Oil Corporation, says, “ The monthly demand for LPG is 25,000MT. In catering to this demand we try to bring at least 30,000MT. However, the demand has now soared to 40,000MT and we are working on importing LPG as per the new demand.” According to Ghimire, NOC does not own any LPG bullets for importing and transportation of gas. If NOC has its own LPG bullets it will help decrease the problem of gas shortage. “ As the demand for the LPG is 40,000MT we need at least 60 LPG bullets. Right now we are importing 45 Indian LPG bullets which are not enough to fulfil market demand,” he admits.

Ghimire opines, “ We also don’t have any storage for LPG right now and with 53 bottling plants we only have storage capacity of 5,500MT which is certainly not enough.” He further adds, “ We plan to start a new storage plant in Kavre with storage capacity of at least 30,000MT.” While every little effort will make a big difference, it remains to be seen if all the tall talk converts to action. Otherwise as usual it’s just gas that stirs the cauldron till the next crisis evolves.