Welcome Rollback
WITH the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) reducing the price of some petroleum products
following an instruction of the government, consumers are expected to get some market
relief. When the prices of petroleum products were raised on March 25, naturally consumers
in general were not happy. No price hike ever is greeted with applause by the general
public. NOC said it had to raise the prices because it was suffering huge losses. Besides,
as Minister for Information and Communications, and General Administration Ramesh Nath
Pandey told journalists Sunday, the government subsidy to POL products had only ended up
making the products cheaper in Nepal than in India, and thus prompting smuggling in huge
quantities across the border. This is a well-established fact that the porous Nepal-India
border serves smugglers very well when they want to make a quick buck out of smuggling
different daily essentials into India when there is a profitable difference in prices of
the same products on either side of the border. Notwithstanding these facts, it is indeed
welcome that the government told the NOC to reduce the prices taking cognisance of the
fact that the prices of petroleum products in the international market have seen a
declining trend and the war in Iraq was heading towards an end. This reflects the
alertness of the government as to the price trends in the international market situation
and a commitment to respond to domestic public wishes as they pertain to essential items
like POL products.
The NOC's decision to rollback the prices of diesel, kerosene
and aviation is sure to be welcomed by the public. Equally welcome would be the assurance
of Minister Pandey, who is also the spokesman of the government, that the latter would
constitute a monitoring and fixation committee to keep a watch on the price in the
international market and on the import and sale of petroleum products. It will include
representatives of Consumer Forum Nepal and Forum for the Protection of Consumers' Rights.
The involvement of consumers' bodies in monitoring the import and sale of petro products
will hopefully have a salutary impact on the way the business of petroleum products is
done in the country by NOC, the sole authority importing and distributing POL products in
the country.
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