Kathmandu [Nepal], March 13 (ANI): The state monopoly Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) from Friday has started rationing the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) or the cooking gas to manage demand surge as the conflict in West Asia completed its second week, halting the supply.

Following the orders from NOC, bottling plants have started to sell half-filled cylinders to customers, forcing people to stand in serpentine lines for hours.

'It's not easy to get the (Liquefied Petroleum) gas. It is really hard to get the refilled ones. I came here (at the depot) at 10 in the morning and till now it has been about four hours, I haven't got hold of a single filled cylinder. It's uncertain whether I will get the gas or not,' Prem Krishna Shahi, a Nepali consumer, told ANI as he waited for the half-filled cylinder at a depot in Kathmandu.

As per the new provision, applicable for both household and hotel and restaurant users a 7.1 Kilogram- half than the usual one is being distributed. The state monopoly has claimed that the move is 'aimed at conserving energy even though imports have not been affected.'

A 7.1-kg cylinder of cooking gas will cost NRs 955.

The decision of the Nepal Oil Corporation comes after an interval of 5 years. NOC had adopted similar measures during previous crises in 2015 and 2020, when the country suffered acute shortages of cooking gas.

The state monopoly said supplies from India remain normal, but panic buying has been increasing in the Kathmandu Valley.

Queues at cooking gas depots have been growing after local groceries were unable to supply the fuel across the valley, following rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, a key fuel-supplying region for global markets.

'It has been a daunting task to get the (Liquefied Petroleum) Gas. I have been in line for the gas for three hours and I am still waiting. I hope I can get a cylinder, that too only half- the-cylinder,' another consumer, Ram Sharan Khadka, told ANI.

'It is hard to sustain without it, I am using the firewood as an alternative as well but still it is hard to get at this point of time, at the time of crisis. I have been managing many of my chores using the woods,' Khadka added.

Nepal's LPG demand currently stands at around 45,000-46,000 tonnes per month, and the NOC says a similar quantity has been arriving. Among the country's 6.66 million households, 51 per cent use firewood while 44.3 per cent rely on LPG for cooking.

Bagmati Province, which includes the Kathmandu Valley and has 1.56 million households, leads in LPG consumption, with 69.8 per cent of families using it for cooking, according to the census report. (ANI)