China to supply gasoline to fuel-starved Nepal

Amid blockade caused by ethnic parties in Nepal protesting against the division of their ancestral homeland under the new constitution, the Himalayan nation suffers from acute fuel crisis. Protesters have blocked a key Nepal-India border point for weeks. Nepal says China will provide it with 1.3 million liters of gasoline to help it cope with severe fuel shortages as a result of restricted supplies from neighboring India. The team comprises the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Commerce and Supplies, Ministry of Finance and Nepal Oil Corporation. https:///13501/china-to-supply-gasoline-to-fuel-starved-nepal

The first shipment is expected to arrive in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu in a few days, said sources at state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC).Nepal’s new government has mobilised various agencies to bring fuel and cooking gas from China in the wake of shortage of essential goods during festivals due to the Madhesi-led agitation in the southern plains. The fuel will be transported via a land crossing that was repaired and reopened this month after suffering damage in the natural disaster that hit Nepal in April. Hundreds of protesters have blocked a bridge crossing in the town of Birgunj, 90 kilometres (55 miles) south of Kathmandu since September 24, while movement of cargo at other checkpoints along the Indian border has also slowed down. Nepal’s Madhesis have long complained of discrimination and say a new federal structure laid out in the country’s new constitution adopted last month will leave them under-represented in parliament. Lawmakers finally reached agreement in June, spurred by the massive quake two months earlier that killed almost 8,900 people and left more than half a million people homeless.

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