KATHMANDU — Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Deepak Kumar Sah has said that a short-term plan has been put in place to control the shortage of LP gas, hike in the price of petroleum products and abnormal prices of daily essentials.

Replying to the questions of the lawmakers in the National Assembly, Minister Sah said that the ‘fishbone diagram’ has been used to identify the reasons for the gas shortage. He said that import dependence, international prices, storage and refilling, disparity in distribution, delay in return of empty cylinders, black marketing and lack of inter-agency coordination are the main reasons.

“The government is very serious about the difficulties faced by the general public due to the shortage of LP gas cylinders. The government is continuously working to solve the problems related to gas,” he said, “The ministry has used a fishbone diagram as a tool for technical analysis to identify the problem.” ‘

According to him, the road at Krishnabhir is on the ‘critical path’ of the supply process, and works have been forwarded in coordination with the Department of Roads and customs and transport management has also been facilitated.

Minister Sah informed that 8,57,821 cylinders of gas were imported in August, which is 25.56 percent more than the previous year. He said that there is no shortage of petrol, diesel and aviation fuel at present.

In the long-term, the government would expand petroleum pipeline up to Lothar of Chitwan, construct a greenfield terminal, expand storage capacity, build petroleum storage in Karnali and construct infrastructures for storage of LP gas in Sarlahi.

Minister Sah said that directives have been issued to set the maximum price of sugar at Rs 110, traders have been directed to reduce the price of daily essentials including rice by 10 to 15 percent and 25,000 metric tonnes of sugar has been imported from India. He said that the process of adding technical manpower to make market monitoring effective is underway and the government is positive to expand the consumer court.