Scarcity of Petroleum Products in Nepal

Fig 1.1 line of vehicles Pulchowk

IT has been endless queue of vehicles waiting for turn to get a liter of petrol since a few days . We are facing a great problem in maintaining balance upon population and resources. As Nepal is a landlocked country it shares border with India and China. Due to political obstruction and influence Nepal is forced to use Indian Petroleum products. We all know that Nepal's literacy rate is low, people are illiterate and there is the presence of Ignorance among the people.  NEPAL OIL CORPORATION is under trade deficiency since they buy at high rate and are compelled to sell at low rate for people's convenience.
Kathmandu is currently enduring a fuel shortage. I started noticing long lines at fuel pumps around the city last week and wondered the cause. I assumed there might have been some physical disruption to the supply, a broken pipeline, a union strike. It turns out there was a physical disruption of sorts, but not exactly what I expected. Nepal gets all its fuel from India, which cut off supply when Nepal failed to pay its bill. Whoops. The state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation is unable to pay its bills because, while oil prices have been rising worldwide, the government has not raised fuel prices in Nepal to allow the corporation to profit from sales. Government policies result in a subsidy for all fuel consumed in the Valley, but also small hiccups like the occasional fuel shortage.

Life goes on, with or without easy access to fuel. Gas generators -- life-blood in a city without grid electricity for 14 hours each day -- are harder to feed, but businesses carry on. Cars and motorcycles are harder to fill and taxis are asking exorbitant rates. Minibuses (read: public transport) are correspondingly more crowded. For those in real need, there is fuel available, but getting access is a chore. Earlier this week I captured this scene of the petrol pump on Pulchowk.