Nov 8, 2015- Nepal Oil Corporation has said India has virtually stopped the supply of fuel for the past five days as tension with the southern neighbour has flared since the death of an Indian national in Birgunj in police action.
Mukunda Prasad Ghimire, acting director at the NOC, said only one bullet of cooking gas was allowed to enter Kakarbhitta from Panitanki border until Friday. On Saturday, another LP gas bullet came in via Rupaidiha border in the west.
The government has said the Indian national was killed in police firing after a group of protesters attacked security personnel on guard. India claims that the deceased was innocent. After the 19-year-old’s death on Monday, India tightened all of its major border points with Nepal.
The already cold relations between the two neighbours have been soured since the incident, with India raising the issue of rights violation at the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva.
Hundreds of fuel tankers including LPG bullets have been stranded on the Indian side at different border points. “At Raxaul-Birgunj, as many as 208 gas bullets have been stranded for the past two months,” said Ghimire.
There are 35 gas bullets awaiting passage at Kakarbhitta while 135 fuel tankers are waiting at Jogbani. Thirty-six petrol tankers and gas bullets have been piling up in Raxaul. According to our correspondent in Dhangadhi, 200 fuel tankers including 100 cargo trucks are lined across the Dhangadhi border.
Meanwhile, the Department of Customs said India has slowed down the clearance of non-fuel cargo trucks too since Monday. Director General of Customs Department Sishir Dhungana said only around 200 trucks have been coming in daily since the Birgunj incident while over 500 trucks used to cross over to Nepal until last week. “Entry of fuel tankers is negligible,” said Dhungana.
According to the department, imports are at just 20 percent of the usual volume, bringing customs revenues to just 25 percent of this month’s target. Biratnagar customs said only trucks loaded with vegetables entered in the past two days. Customs chief Krishna Bahadur Basnet said there are several fuel tankers and cargo trucks queued up on the Indian side.
No fuel tanker arrived from Kakarbhitta while around 30 trucks came in from India. There were no fuel tankers coming into Bhairahawa in the west too. Only six cargo trucks arrived on Saturday.
Published on: The Kathmandu Post(November 08,2015)
