Petroleum dealers created an artificial shortage of major petroleum products, particularly petrol, in the Kathmandu Valley on Monday to press the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) to supply them with the quantity they demanded, Radio Nepal reported Tuesday.

The NOC curtailed supply of fuel from March 14, when the anti- government guerrillas-imposed blockade came into force. NOC and dealers have been at loggerheads since then over the quantity of supply.

While major dealers pulled down shutters late in the evening on Monday, consumers were seen queuing at refilling stations operated by police and army.

"It is a shame that supply of fuel has dwindled again," said Devendra Gartaula, a consumer who vented his ire at a refilling station. He said that it was the fourth station which had tagged " petrol out of stock" sign.

Showing indifference to the pain that consumers went through, Nepal Petroleum Dealers Association (NPDA) and NOC officials point the finger at each other for the shortage.

"The shortage was a cumulative impact of curtailed supply from NOC," said NPDA President Shiva Prasad Ghimire, explaining the reason behind the shortage.

He charged that the corporation had reduced the supply to half the normal quantity by March 17 since the blockade came into effect on March 14. "Worse, it made no supply to all 114 dealers operating in Bagmati zone of Kathmandu on Sunday," said Ghimire.

However, NOC officials said that it was not the corporation, but the dealers that refused to accept supplies on Sunday.

They conceded that the corporation had reduced the quantity of supply during the blockade. "But that was done with a view to regularizing the distribution and ensuring continued supply of fuel," said a NOC official.

"Dealers, however, cited that the reduced supply did not meet their requirement and did not acquire the products unless they were supplied with the quantity they asked for on Sunday," said he.

Both NPDA and NOC officials stated that, with the blockade called off by the guerrillas on Sunday, the problem of short supply would be over gradually.

Source: Xinhua