Kathmandu. Chairman of the Industry Committee Ansari has directed the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) to immediately map the LPG cylinders and . Speaking at a meeting of the committee held on Tuesday, he directed the government to carry out a mapping of about 17.5 millionLPG cylinders across the country in order to end the artificial shortage of gas. 

He said that he had instructed to map the cylinder 17 days ago, but it has not been implemented. He also warned the NOC leadership to step away from the responsibility if the committee failed to keep pace with the pace. 

Ansari said that every gas cylinder should be tracked through a digital system with barcode or QR code . He claimed that if there is a provision to stop the exchange of uncoded cylinders within 30 days, the hidden cylinder will automatically come out in the market. He added the details of the gas cylinder with the household details of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and which cylinder is used where, which company and by whom? He also said that the state should keep the details. 

Ansari also urged the government to revise the uniform price policy of gas.According to him, the government has to bear the burden of huge subsidy as five-star hotels, big industries and commercial establishments are currently using domestic cylinders of 14.2 kg. He also suggested operating 50, 100 and 450 kg cylinders for commercial use and making small5 kg cylinders available to students, rented accommodation and consumers with low consumption. 

According to Ansari, the government has incurred a loss of about Rs 938 per cylinder {{ .He said that about 7 lakh cylinders are used in the commercial sector every month and about Rs 65 crore of the state’s subsidy is being spent in that sector. He said that this amount will reach billions of rupees annually and the subsidy should be focused on the real domestic consumers. He also urged the government to make arrangements to provide cooking gas at market price to five-star hotels and big industries and to implement a subsidy policy targeted at rural areas, students and low-income consumers.

Likewise, Ansari also urged the Gas Producers‘Association to collaborate with the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) to find a technology-friendly and innovation-oriented solution and .He said that the problems of gas shortage, artificial stock and misuse of subsidy could be solved if gas cylinder mapping and commercial cylinder system were implemented.