Kathmandu, January 20, 2017: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has slashed the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sold in western Nepal by Rs20 per cylinder to Rs1,305 by passing on savings on transportation costs to consumers.
The state-owned oil monopoly has started bringing cooking gas from Indian Oil Corporation’s (IOC) refineries in Mathura and Karnal which are nearest to the region. According to NOC, it has cut the price of cooking gas sold in Rupandehi, Dang, Banke, Kailali and Kanchanpur districts. “Due to the lower freight charges for shipping cooking gas in these districts, we have slashed the selling price to provide relief to the public,†said Bhanubhakta Khanal, NOC spokesperson.
“However, the price of cooking gas in other locations including the Kathmandu Valley will remain unchanged,†Khanal said.
Khanal said that IOC’s refineries in Mathura and Karnal were nearer from its depot at Bhalwari in Rupandehi district. The LPG sold in the Valley and elsewhere in the country is shipped from IOC’s depots in Barauni, Haldiya and Paradeep.
According to NOC, rerouting shipments has allowed gas bottlers in the region to save Rs50 per cylinder on transport costs. Gas dealers in western Nepal have also halted their protest after prices were decreased. Four brands of LPG—Butwal, Siddhartha, Trishul and Swastik—are sold in the region. Dealers had stopped selling gas for the last few weeks demanding a higher commission.
Rajesh Dahal, general secretary of the Nepal Gas Dealers Association, Kathmandu, said they had stopped their protest till February 1 after gas bottlers agreed to raise their commission.
Dahal said gas bottlers in the region had raised the commission to Rs38 per cylinder from Rs32 per cylinder after NOC slashed prices. Gas dealers had been demanding a commission of Rs50 per cylinder. Dahal said they would be starting their protest in the Kathmandu Valley from February 1. “We are launching our campaign to pressurise the government to waive value added tax completely,†he said.
Currently, the general public has to pay Rs148.75 VAT on a cylinder of LPG while businesses with an annual turnover of more than Rs5 million are exempt from the tax.
