Nepal: Serious fuel shortage
 

This has been going on for a while, but now seems to have become critical: there is almost no more fuel to be had in Nepal.

I haven't seen it with my own eyes, but many people have told me that drivers queue for 24h or more at the pumps to get just a few litres. The Nepali govt. seems to have run out of money and have stopped paying the Indian govt. for fuel already delivered, so the Indians have now stopped deliveries.

Pump or black market, the price of petrol seems to be about 2 Euro/litre, if you can get any.

Cheers,
Peter, from Kathmandu.

Fuel in Nepal
 

Peter,

I am at work noow and there is a Nepali guy working here who just come back. I will find out for you from the horse's mouth. He's from close to Darjeeling though.

Cheers
Ivan

Thanks Ivan. Had a couple of private offers already. Just waiting to hear from one of our team how much he needs, so I know how much I have to buy.

Today I was able to fill the tank, bypassing a multi-lane queue of about 300m. We now have enough fuel for the 4 bikes to get to the border, even if the other two can't get any. The queue took only 1 1/2 h to form...

There is confusing info around. In the papers I read about the price having to rise, the Indian monopoly being broken, fuel from China and what not. My guess is it will take at least another week to be sorted out.

Another warning here: expect more trouble in Nepal, the Maoists have pulled out of the govt. and want to sabotage the up-coming elections. The papers are daily full of reports of violence and road closures, incl. main highways. It's not a happy time for Nepal.

I've been following the Nepal news closely as we had planned a trek around the Annapurna Range for my 55th Birthday. Here's some of what I've gleaned from the 2 online editions of Kathmandu Papers-

There was an armed Maoist insurgency taking place for the past 10 years in Nepal, and during that time over 14,000 people had been killed. In May 2006 a ceasefire was signed between the Maoists and the Government. In November 2006 Maoists became part of an Interim Government and Constituent Assembly (CA) elections were scheduled to take place in November 2007. (I felt that with a peace process in place it would be a great time to visit Nepal. We hiked in Peru shortly after the Shining Path insurgency was resolved and had a wonderful time).

On Monday of this week the Maoists quit the (Interim) Government because of the Governments failure to implement a 22 point plan prior to the November CA elections and have announced that the "people's power" will form the basis for the new republic. They have announced the following "struggle programme":

Sept. 19-21: Door to door awareness campaign:censored:
Sept. 22: Mass meetings and demonstrations all over the country:eek3:
Sept. 30: Demonstrations of Election Offices
Sept. 29-October 3: Exposing those persons indicted by the Rayamajhi and also "corrupt persons":helpsmilie:
October 4-6: Nationwide general strike:eek3: :eek3: :eek3:

(We were scheduled to fly into Kathmandu on Oct. 2):(

damn, those icons are fun-

Below are some excerpts and links from the Kathmandu Newspaper if you want to follow this story further.

KATHMANDU, Sept 18 - Within hours of walking out of the eight-party government, CPN-Maoist has announced that it would boycott the Constituent Assembly elections if the government tried to hold the elections without declaring Nepal a republic.
The protest programmes included burning effigies of the monarchy today, door-to-door publicity campaigns on September 19-21, “people’s demonstrations” on September 22, “exposure” of those implicated by the Rayamajhi commission report from September 29 to October 3, picketing the District Administration Offices on September 30, and political strike from October 4 -6.
http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=122926

KATHMANDU, Sept 18 - At least 21 disgruntled groups have so far taken up arms or claim to have done so to unleash violence, after the CPN (Maoist) formally laid down their arms November last.
Police officials fear that the number of such outfits could shoot up should the transition period get protracted further, posing a threat to the already precarious law and order situation.
What is worrisome, according to police officials, is that such groups are already mushrooming at an alarming rate.
http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=122874

CHITWAN, Sept 18 - Soon after the Maoists announced to quit the eight-party coalition government, Maoist cadres have staged demonstrations in different parts of the country.....Meanwhile, thousands of Maoist cadres and sympathizers are taking part in the assembly venue at Open Theatre in Kathmandu.Many buses carried the demonstrators from various parts inside the capital and its surrounding areas.They chanted slogans such as “Declare a republic to ensure Constituent Assembly elections” and “Hail to republican Nepal”.Traffic in large parts of the capital has been crippled.
http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=122923

KAPILVASTU, Sept 19 - The death toll in the Kapilvastu riots has mounted to 20 as 15 more bodies were recovered in the district Wednesday. Seven bodies were recovered from a gorge at Devnagari in Birpur VDC this morning, stated the District Police Office (DPO), quoting local residents. Eight more bodies were recovered from the same area today evening, the locals said. More bodies are expected to be recovered, the police informed. None of the eight bodies have been identified yet as their bodies have been disfigured beyond recognition, the police added.
http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=122987

KATHMANDU, Sept 2 - A series of bomb explosions rocked three busy market places in Kathmandu at around 4:15 pm Sunday. The bombs went off almost simultaneously at Tripureshwor, Sundhara and Balaju. An unidentified group detonated “time bombs” concealed in bags, the police said. However, nobody has been arrested so far. Home Ministry spokesman, Baman Prasad Neupane confirmed that two people have died and five others are critically injured.
http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=121283

KATHMANDU, Sept 5 - CPN-Maoist on Tuesday decided to reactivate its 'kangaroo courts' across the country.
A meeting of the Revolutionary People's Council (RPC) took the decision in this regard.
"As the common people have failed to receive justice from the current state mechanism and action has not been taken against the corrupt and criminals, we have decided to reactivate such a mechanism to provide justice to the people," said Dr Baburam Bhattarai, coordinator of the council.
http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=121537

Banke, Sept 8 - Maoist Chairman Prachanda has directed the party cadres to be prepared for the agitation since the “pre-requisites” for the Constituent Assembly elections have not been fulfilled yet.
http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=121903

and on top of all that- CHITWAN, Sept 20 - At least one person died Thursday morning and over 200 people have fallen sick in Chitwan district following an outbreak of cholera in Jutpani VDC on Tuesday.
http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=123132