Chandra Thapa, general secretary of the Gas Dealers’ Federation Nepal (GDFN), said there was a very long waiting list even though LPG imports had increased. “A rise in demand from households, lack of timely preparation, ineffective monitoring and defective distribution have prolonged the shortage,” he said. Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has increased the previous monthly import quota of 22,477 tonnes by around 7,000 tonnes. According to the Nepal LP Gas Industry Association, bottlers imported 26,156 tonnes of LPG in Jan and 26,055 tonnes in Feb.

Shiva Ghimire, president of the association, said they were planning to import 28,000 tonnes of LPG in March. He blamed the continuing shortage of cooking gas on large-scale hoarding by rich consumers. “This has made life hard for customers who own only one LPG cylinder,” Ghimire said.

Thapa of the GDFN said that the gas shortage could have been completely removed if the bottlers had increased the supply two months ago instead of doing so only recently. He added that the practice of forcing consumers to buy new cylinders by tightening supplies was continuing.

Meanwhile, gas retailers said that they were having a hard time fulfilling demand with the shipments they have been receiving. Ram Kumar Khadka, proprietor of Khadka Gas Depot in Maharajgunj, said he was selling 350-420 cylinders of LPG daily. “However, supplies fall short of the requirement.”

State-owned oil monopoly NOC claimed that 50-60 bullets of LPG were being imported daily. NOC Spokesperson Mukunda Ghimire said most of the gas bottlers except for a few small companies had been fully utilizing the import quotas issued to them.

Purushottam Subedi, director at the monitoring unit of the Department of Commerce and Supply Management (DoCSM), said the current shortage was the result of ineffective monitoring. “Although we have been checking LPG outlets and bottlers on a daily basis, our efforts have not been much effective as there are many non-licensed shops selling cooking gas,” he added.

Subedi said the department lacked records of the depots, distributors™ and retailers which had made it difficult to track the distribution system. “If the department possessed records of all the LPG sellers, we could check if excess sales had been made to industrial users and if dealers had been pushing customers to buy cylinders,” he said.

Meanwhile, the DoCSM said it had started enforcing business standards for LPG retailers in particular. “Firms will need to obtain a separate licence to sell LPG and they will be required to weigh the gas cylinders before delivery. The department will also implement the minimum safety measures,” said Director Hari Narayan Belbase.