By Laxman Kafle

Kathmandu, Mar .28:As per the direction of the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC), the gas bottling plants have started supplying the half-filled gas cylinders in the market.
With this, a cylinder will come with 7.1 kg of liquefied petroleum gas instead of 14.2 kg standard weight. It is a method tested during the crisis of petroleum products during the 2015 border blockade.
The state-owned petroleum monopoly had directed the gas bottling companies on Tuesday to sell half-filled gas cylinders to the consumers with an aim to ease the supply during the period of lockdown.
The government has decided to sell half-filled gas cylinders as the petroleum import witnessed hurdles at the border as India announced lockdown for 21 days to control the spread of novel coronavirus. Nepal buys all its petroleum products, including cooking gas, from the state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).
According to president of LP Gas Industries Association Gokul Bhandari, all gas bottling companies had started to dispatch half-filled gas cylinders to the market from Friday.
“Companies are supplying gas to selective dealers of certain areas in coordination with the NOC. The NOC will coordinate with the local administration to ease the distribution to the customers,” he said.
He said that all gas companies and the distributors were trying their best to maintain smooth distribution of gas to the consumers during this crisis.
Currently, consumers are reeling under an acute shortage of cooking-gas with the lockdown announced by Nepal and India owing to the COVID-19 risks.
Managing Director of NOC Surendra Paudel said that the gas distribution resumed from Friday after a pause for three days following the nationwide lockdown.
“About 50,000 full-filled gas cylinders were supplied across the country on Friday to clear the stock while gas bottling plants are also supplying the half-filled cylinders from today itself,” he said.
Around 100,000 half-filled gas cylinders will be sent to the market in the first phase.
Gas import has remained unaffected till the date but there is no certainty that the situation would improve in the foreseeable future, said Poudel.
Gas enough to fill 400,000 cylinders was imported from the IOC in the last three days.
“We decided to sell half-filled gas cylinders to cater to the need of the large numbers of consumers and maintain the supply during the crisis,” Paudel told The Rising Nepal.
The NOC has made an arrangement to distribute gas to the gas dealers in a rotation system, the gas dealers who received gas today would get another supply after a few days.
Price adjusted
NOC has set a new price for the half-filled gas cylinders. Consumers of Dang, Banke, Kailali, Bardiya and Kanchanpur districts have to pay Rs. 670 for a half-filled cylinder.
Likewise, the gas will cost Rs. 677.50 in Terai and other region.
Consumers of the Kathmandu Valley and other hill areas have to pay Rs. 687.50 for a half-filled gas cylinder.
Price of a full-filled gas cylinder was Rs. 1,375 in the Kathmandu Valley.