Declare Two-Day Weekly Holiday And Implement Odd-Even Vehicle Rationing System, Says NOC

The state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has requested the government to declare a two-day weekly holiday and implement an odd-even vehicle rationing system to reduce the consumption of petroleum products. This comes at a time when the country is headed towards a fuel crisis as the financial condition of the corporation is very dilapidated.According to the NOC, the corporation has also requested the government to reduce customs duty, value-added tax and infrastructure development fee on petroleum products. The corporation has demanded the government reduce the price tax on petroleum by Rs 15 per liter and liquified petroleum gas by Rs 200.It is also demanded that the corporation should be able to provide an additional amount of money when required to pay for the purchase of fuel, increase the price in line with the international price and allow all types of vehicles to operate at full capacity.In recent times, the cost of fuel has skyrocketed with the prices of petrol, diesel, and kerosene reaching record-high levels. And, with rising inflation, there seems no respite in sight.As of now, petrol costs Rs 155 per litre while the price of diesel and kerosene is Rs 138 per litre. According to NOC, even though the price has gone up by Rs 5 per litre, there is still a loss of Rs 28.57 per litre in petrol. Similarly, diesel has a loss of Rs 32.15 while kerosene has a profit of Rs 24.34 per litre respectively.