The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has warned of stern action against the Nepal Oil Corporation if they fail to distribute fuel to consumers in a transparent way.

Summoning Secretary at the Ministry of Supplies Bishnu Prasad Lamsal, NOC Executive Director Gopal Bahadur Khadka and NOC Thankot Depot chief Jaganath Ghimire, among other officials, at the CIAA office on Wednesday, anti-graft body officials instructed them to resolve fuel crisis without further delay. “Regularise distribution of petroleum products at the earliest. Failure to do so may subject you to action on the spot,” warned CIAA Spokesperson Krishna Hari Pushkar, saying that the commission was closely monitoring state of fuel supply.  

The CIAA directive comes amid the state-owned oil monopoly’s failure to regularise distribution of oil to consumers despite having more than 20 million litres of fuel in stock at its Thankot depot, leading to a thriving trade in fuel smuggled into the country from India, which is sold openly by dealers who pay law enforcing authorities to look the other way.

Except the Raxaul-Birgunj border point, fuel import has now become normal from other border crossings.

The CIAA also asked the officials to keep proper records of fuel tankers coming in from each border point, ensure fuel is distributed evenly to petroleum pumps and step up efforts to curb black marketeering.

“We have informed them that more than half the fuel is being sold on black market. We have asked them to make joint efforts to check. Otherwise, we have to take necessary measures from our side,” said Pushkar.

The NOC, however, says it has only 20,000 kilolitres of fuel in stock, including petrol, diesel and air turbine fuel, compared to its total storage capacity of 72,000kl at its depots across the country. People are also contending with severe shortages of cooking gas. NOC Spokesperson Mukunda Ghimire said they had recently imported 80 bullets of cooking gas. “But the quantity is not sufficient to meet the demand,” he said.