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Amid acute fuel shortage, only 50 pecent of the public vehicles and goods carriers are being able to operate, transport entrepreneurs have said. Irate transporters have decided to organise a protest to pressure the government to ensure smooth fuel supply. “We have decided to picket the Nepal Oil Corporation on Monday,” said Yogendra Karmacharya, president of the National Federation of Nepalese Transport Entrepreneurs. Similar are the woes of cargo carriers. Rajendra Shrestha, general secretary of the Federation of Truck and Tanker and Transport Entrepreneurs Nepal, said cargo vehicles are compelled to queue up for up to 12 hours at gas stations. “Generally, 20,000 trucks and tankers ply on Nepali roads every day, but now, only around 10,000 vehicles operate,” he said. However, Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) claims that fuel supply has improved from Sunday. Mohan Karki, chief of NOC’s Thankot depot, said the state-owned oil monopoly supplied petrol and diesel to 90 percent of the refuelling stations in the Kathmandu Valley on Sunday. The depot supplied 426kl of petrol, 602kl of diesel and 108kl of kerosene on Sunday. “Sunday’s supply was higher than the normal Valley demand,” said Karki. At the request of NOC and the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies, Indian Oil Corporation’s Raxual depot has increased the amount of petroleum to be exported to Nepal to 1,800kl from the usual 1,300kl, said NOC officials.ekantipur

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