LPG shortage or distribution failure?

The government’s handling of the ongoing LPG shortage has exposed serious weaknesses in Nepal’s supply and distribution system, leaving consumers to endure long queues and uncertainty over whether they will get a cylinder. For an essential commodity such as cooking gas, forcing citizens to spend an entire day in line, regardless of the heat or rain, is a matter of shame for any responsible state. The government introduced a direct-sales system to ease the shortage, which has persisted for nearly a month. But while distributing gas through designated government outlets based on citizenship certificates and national identity cards may appear effective on paper, the system has proved disorderly, opaque and impractical in practice. Several people have had to return home empty-handed after waiting in line for hours. Such stories are being repeated not only in Kathmandu but across the country. Spending an entire day in line for a single cylinder, only to find that supplies have run out, is a clear sign of a failing supply-management system. Government intervention during a gas shortage is understandable. But intervention should not mean dismantling the existing distribution network and replacing it with a new, untested system. After the government began selling gas directly, dealers and retailers that had regularly supplied consumers were sidelined. This has led to unusually long queues at government outlets while local depots and dealers face shortages. By weakening a system that brings gas closer to consumers’ homes and forcing people to travel long distances with cylinders, the government has added to their hardship.