Nepal Revisited – Day 21

This morning Richard, Heather & I headed into Jawalakhel so that we could introduce Richard to a couple of our partners; Mountain Child & Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF). After this Richard & I headed to the Humanitarian Staging Area which is located near the airport for a Logistics Cluster Meeting.

The two key items on the agenda were the fuel shortage and road closures and its affect on agencies. The fuel shortage is really staring to hinder the humanitarian aid effort, as organisations find it increasingly difficult to obtain petrol and diesel for their vehicles; especially for monitoring and evaluation, and distributions of much needed materials. (Refer to this article posted yesterday ’26 Oct’ in the Kathmandu Post.)

Also their are increasing concerns around the flow on effect to essential services such as hospitals, water treatment plants, sewerage plants etc. Many of the small businesses and cafes, restaurants and bars seem to be closed at the moment, some of which is due to the festival season. But the fuel shortage which includes LPG is obviously having a roll on effect as well. Many small stall owners and shops are running out of essential products and are closing for the time being as well.

While we were at the meeting Heather went and did some groceries and after the logistics meeting we headed across the road to the MAF booking office to confirm if they could fly to Sindhupalchok as we are intending to go and do a monitoring visit next week to check on some Temporary Learning Centres.

In the afternoon we spent some time catching up on paperwork and planning for the remainder of this week and into next week.

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Just when Nepal thought it could move on again

Just when Nepal thought it could move on again the ‘Indian Oil Corporation has said in communications with its Nepalese counterpart (Nepal Oil Corporation) that it has been instructed not to refuel Nepalese tankers. On the diplomatic front, Indian officials have suggested that all border crossings would open if Nepal’s government accommodated the protesters’ demands.’

This was stated in a New York Times article posted on October 15 entitled ‘Snaking Lines Grow as Nepal Confronts Fuel Shortage‘ written by Donatella Lorch.

Visitors to Nepal in the peak tourist season have been confronted with miles of double- and triple-parked cars, buses, trucks and motorcycles along the ancient city’s avenues. The lines snarl through narrow streets and block main intersections on the ring road.

The Indian government has denied any involvement in the ongoing blockade at Nepal’s busiest border point. But recent reports from the Kathmandu Post, The Himalayan Times and now other world renowned papers seem to be pointing the finger at their involvement, considering many of the Madhesis protesters appear to go home to the Indian side of the border when confronted by Nepalese border control.

Whoever is to blame it is starting to have an affect on supplies coming in and going out of the country. The United Nations in an article in the Kathmandu Post, insists that the country needs to get things moving again so that quake-hit communities get much needed supplies in time for winter.

They say ‘that a backlog of 1,200 MT of shelter and non-food item supplies is awaiting delivery to earthquake-affected population. Eighty per cent of the supplies are warehoused in the districts, but acute shortages in fuel supplies continue to impede planned deliveries to affected villages.‘ Read more…

Despite the hassles, many people are leaving Kathmandu and heading to their village homes, to celebrate the dashain festival. Towards the end of next week many businesses and schools will close for a few days so that the people can be part of the celebrations. Heather & I will be heading to Runchet in Gorkha to be part of the celebrations in one of the local communities that we have been assisting.

Other articles of interest:

• With Fuel Blocked at Border, Nepal Plans Talks with India – New York Times
• People leaving for Dashain increase, despite hassles – The Himalayan Times
• IOC cuts fuel supply again – The Kathmandu Post

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750,000 litres of fuel distributed to private vehicles

Over the past couple of days it has been fascinating to see the lack of cars, buses, trucks and motorbikes moving about on the roads. There have been long queues lined up on the sides of the roads however.

Yesterday it was astounding to see the amount of motorbikes lined up for miles as they waited for a fuel ration of 5 litres per motorbike.

The following article was published in the Kathmandu Post yesterday (13/10/2015):

Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) distributed 750,000 litres of fuel to the private vehicles in the Kathmandu Valley on Tuesday. Some 600,000 litres of petrol and 150,000 litres of diesel were provided by the NOC to 125 petrol stations across the Valley, according to Spokesperson of the Corporation, Deepak Baral

The state oil monopoly had ceased providing fuel to private vehicles for the past two weeks given the acute shortage of fuel in the country. The vehicles were playing on the road since Monday in hope of receiving the petroleum products rationed by the NOC.

Spokesperson Baral shared that not all the vehicles queued in a long line received the petroleum products due to the limited availability of the petro products. Motorcycles were provided five litres of fuel whereas four-wheelers received 15 litres.

The NOC is preparing to make available fuel to more of the private vehicles tomorrow until the import of this essential fuel comes in adequate quantity. The distribution of LPG gas would not take place until the Birgunj check point opens, according to NOC.

So hopefully over the next few days as approximately two million people head out of Kathmandu to their respective villages to celebrate the beginning of Bada Dashain images such as these will become less and less, as the fuel distributions become more commonplace.

(Bada Dashain is the most widely celebrated Hindu festival in the country.)

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