Why THE UNENDING QUEUE?

DEMAND FOR PETROLEUM PRODUCTS HAS SOARED BY ALMOST 100 PER CENT MAINLY DUE TO HOARDING

March 6,2016

Himalayan News Service
Kathmandu
T he blockade ended a month ago. The borders are free of political agitation and open for supply of fuel and other amenities. While the government claims that the supply of petroleum products is above expectations, the public waits in endless queues wondering when the petroleum crisis will really be over.
STOCKING UP ON RUMOURS
Rumours that supply will again be disrupted due to political unrest and insecurity have led to the public also hoarding petroleum products. Those having the time and ability are making recurring runs to petroleum pumps to fill up and hoard fuel. Others are turned back by the long queues.
A resident of Dallu, Gopal Tamang finally managed to fill the tank of his two- wheeler after leaving his bike at the petrol station and waiting for hours. He had to earlier scout various petrol pumps in order to find the station distributing fuel. “ Inefficiency of the Nepal Oil Corporation ( NOC) to inform the general public about distribution of fuel has made us suffer even though the government states that they are importing enough fuel to cope with demand,” he said, complaining that he still has to stay in queue for hours.
DEMAND HAS DOUBLED Gopal Bahadur Khadka, Managing Director of Nepal Oil Corporation ( NOC) said, “ We are quite transparent in the supply of petroleum products. We have made all the transaction of imports from Indian Oil Corporation ( IOC) and distribution to the petrol pumps public.” He added, “ We have increased the supply of petroleum product to 450,000 litres of petrol and 500,000 litres of diesel daily, which was the demand during the peak season last year. However, present demand has soared by almost 100 per cent unexpectedly.” According to NOC, the current demand for diesel constitutes a million litres and 700,000 litres petrol per day. Citing that they are facing difficulties to meet this rising demand, he said, “ If only people quit hoarding fuel, the situation will be normal.” “ The general public was deprived of fuel since four and half months. So once the fuel was available they have started stocking it WHAT’S IN STORE At the root of the problem lies NOC’s poor storage ability. Even though there has been a plan to expand storage facilities since the last 25 years, the corporation has not expanded its storage facilities till date.
According to Khadka, IOC the sole distributor of petroleum products to Nepal has also not supplied cent per cent fuel to Nepal. “ IOC has only supplied 70 per cent of fuel demand pointing to technical difficulties and internal problems. We import fuel from seven IOC depots. The maximum supply is from Raxaul and there are some hitches due to which full supply is not possible,” said Khadka.
Talking about the poor storage capacity he informed, “ NOC is doing its homework to increase the present storage capacity of 20 days to 90 days. We will expand our storage facilities in three areas — Nuwakot, Kavre and Khaireni.” According to NOC, the storage facility is present in 10 districts and incorporates 71,622 kilolitres of petroleum products. Even though there has been the plan to expand storage facilities since the last 25 years, the corporation has not expanded its storage facilities till date.
government importing demand,” still quite all from and pumps petroleum petrol daily, the However, current a rising people situation it up,” said Hari Narayan Belbase, Director at the Department of Commerce and Supply Management ( DoCSM). He explained that the demand for diesel has increased also because of load shedding and demand from businesses for operation of generators.
“ Developmental projects are also now picking up pace so that has also increased the demand for fuel above the normal times. This is also the peak period for construction of infrastructure and so it is obvious that there is maximum demand,” said Belbase.
The supply of petroleum has increased by three folds as compared to the period of blockade, yet there are long queues. RB Ranabhat, Head of Distribution at Bhadrakali Petrol Station, said, “ Earlier in September we got 6,000 litres of petrol and 4,000 litres of diesel per day but now the situation has improved and we are getting 20,000 litres of petrol and 16,000 litres of diesel per day.” According to him, they distribute 15 litres and five litres of petrol to four wheelers and two wheelers respectively from 9: 30 am to 5: 30 pm.
WEAK MONITORING

Pointing out that insecurity is the main reason for the present situation, Ranabhat said, “ People are still not confident about uninterrupted supply, which is why, they have started to keep stocks.” Furthermore, he added, “ As the government has not introduced any mechanism and regulations to regulate distribution, customers who can stay in the queue are getting more fuel than they need and genuine customers are still at bay.” According to him, the government should regulate the distribution system of fuel to customers as well as to private pumps. “ It is a well known fact that black marketers have been active in this adverse situation. To prevent black marketing, primarily the government should strictly monitor all private pumps. And also there should be a system to record fuel buyers,” he said, adding that there should be quota and fixed time to distribute fuel from private pumps.
“ If only the government prevents distribution at night time, 50 per cent of black marketing will be corrected,” claimed Ranabhat as local dons and nepotism get active at night. According to him, last year they distributed 32,000 litres of petrol and 22,000 litres of diesel in a day. He said that unless the government cracks down and introduces data record of buyers, the situation will not be normal anytime soon.
Just why the government has not bothered to crack down is anybody’s guess. The government’s inability to crack down and manage the issue is fueling the problem and fueling rumors that certain powers are hand in glove with black marketers.
President of Consumers Forum, Jyoti Baniya said, “ Through the number of complaints of not getting fuel has significantly dropped, the long queues have not ended.” Citing that the most complaints are from private petrol pumps, he said, “ Nepotism and lack of system results in unequal distribution of fuel.” Despite the fact that the Consumers Forum has the right to seal petrol pumps for uneven distribution, there is no record of taking such action against any petrol pump till date. In the valley alone, there are altogether 75 petrol pumps. To assure smooth and even supply, the Thankot depot is distributing petroleum every alternative day to private petrol pumps.
Owner of Mayaram Bholaram Petrol Pump, at Tripureshwor, Lok Bahadur Thapa, said that they are distributing full tank petrol to customers.
About the timing of the distribution, he said, “ The time is not fixed as whenever the depot sends tankers, we distribute.” According to him, it takes them three and a half hours to distribute 6,000 litres of fuel.
QUEUE “ We have increased the supply of petroleum product to 450,000 litres of petrol and 500,000 litres of diesel daily, which was the demand during the peak season last year. However, present demand has soared by almost 100 per cent unexpectedly” Gopal Bahadur Khadka Managing NOC “ Nepotism and lack of system results in unequal distribution of fuel” Jyoti Baniya President of Consumers Forum “ The general public was deprived of fuel since four and half months. So once the fuel was available they have started stocking it up” Hari Narayan Belbase Director DoCSM. THT