Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Government withholds cooking gas price hike



When the consumers – mostly the students – today came to the streets in huge numbers protesting price hike of cooking gas, the government withheld its decision within less than 24 hours citing lack of preparation.  
The board meeting of Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) this afternoon decided to withhold the price hike of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and of implementing dual pricing for the time being citing insufficient preparations, though the caretaker Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai had twitted in the afternoon the decision before the NOC board.
The late realisation of the NOC, Ministry of Commerce and Supplies and the caretaker Prime Minister has benefitted some dealers as they sold the cooking gas in new price in the morning.
The NOC and the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies were sharply criticised by students, civil society members and consumer rights activists for their failure to ensure reforms in the petroleum business. Government agencies, instead of cleaning their houses, have passed the cost over to consumers to appease gas bottling plans and dealers.

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