Will transportation fare go down

The price of diesel has been slashed to Rs 65 — by Rs 5 per litre from Rs 70 —and transporters are under pressure now to reduce transportation fares. The state-run Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) — taking a global cue — slashed the price of diesel to Rs 65, with effect from tonight. Previously, whenever when the price of diesel or petrol was hiked transporters also jacked up transportation fares arbitarily. "Now the onus is on them to reduce fare rates," said Santosh Silwal, a student at Shanker Dev College. "The taxi fair and the public transportation fair has to go down now."
NOC has slashed the price of diesel to adjust it against that of kerosene. "We received myriad complaints that diesel was being adulterated," NOC managing director Digambar Jha said adding that the price difference between kerosene and diesel had lured blackmarketeers to mix kerosene in diesel, thereby creating the problem of shorter life of diesel engines.
Now that the price of diesel was at par with that of kerosene the problem of adulteration of diesel is expected to be solved, said Jha. "It will be easier for us to check adulteration of petrol as we can concentrate on only petrol," he added.
Of late, blackmarketeers have hit upon the method of adulterating petrol with turpentine — a liquid chemical used in painting. Though the government has banned turpentine it is still found in abundance in petrol, claimed the Nepal Automobile Dealers' Association (NADA). However, NOC chief Jha is hopeful that the corporation can now more effectively monitor petrol since it won't need to monitor diesel after the price adjustment of diesel and kerosene.
A litre of turpentine costs Rs 30 and a litre of petrol costs Rs 90, NADA said adding that mixing turpinetine in petrol is more profitable for blackmarketeers.
Representatives of Hansaraj Hulaschand & Company — sole distributor of Bajaj bikes, Morang Auto Works (MAW) — sole distributor of Yamaha bikes and Syakar Company Ltd — sole distributor of Hero Honda bikes, led by NADA president Sunil Khetan last week met Finance Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai, the finance secretary and NOC top brass to apprise them of the problem. Turpentine is more deadly for the automobile engine as it causes even a new engine to seize.
NADA has urged consumers — especially bikers — to ask for receipts after filling petrol from petrol pumps. "This is so that we can take action, if the petrol is found adulterated," according to NADA. Due to rampant adulteration of petrol, bikes are having serious problems and around 15 to 20 per cent of newly-sold bikes are being returned to dealers.
Adulteration is more when there is scarcity of petroleum products. However, NOC has assured that there will be smooth supply of petroleum products including diesel and petrol. A week ago, NOC also brought uniformity in the dual price of diesel that earlier used to cost Rs 80 and Rs 70 per litre