Six student unions have warned that they would launch protest programs if the government fails to immediately scrap the recent price hike in petroleum products.
Akhil Krantikari, student wing of the CPN-Maoist Center (MC), President Pancha Singh; Unified Socialist aligned ANNISU President Sudesh Parajuli; People’s Socialist Party-aligned Socialist Students Union President Rupnarayan Shrestha; and Rashtriya Janamorcha affiliate Akhil Sixth President Devendra Kunwar among other leaders of six student unions issued a joint statement saying that the continuous hike in the price of petroleum products by Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) had made life difficult for ordinary Nepalis.
“Incessant rise in prices of petrol, diesel and kerosene has a direct bearing on people’s daily lives. This has made products unaffordable for ordinary citizens,” the student unions said in their statement.
NOC has revised the prices of petrol, diesel, kerosene, aviation fuel and cooking gas citing significant rise in the price of fuel at the international market. NOC has increased the price of petrol, diesel and kerosene by Rs 3 per liter each and price of aviation fuel for domestic flight has increased by Rs 10 per liter.
Fuel price was adjusted based on the new price structure received from the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) on October 16, according to a press statement of NOC. The state-owned monopoly petroleum supplier receives new price list from IOC twice a month.
As per the latest revised rate, petrol now costs Rs 133 per liter, diesel and kerosene cost Rs 116 per liter each and aviation fuel (domestic flight) costs Rs 96 per liter. Similarly, the price of aviation fuel (international flights) has been increased to USD 853 per kiloliter, NOC said.
NOC has also increased the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by Rs 50 per cylinder to Rs 1,500. Earlier, NOC had increased the price of petrol, diesel and kerosene by Rs 2 per liter and LPG by Rs 25 per cylinder on August 23, 2021.
According to NOC, even after adjusting the fuel price, NOC still faces a loss of Rs 12.55 per liter in petrol and Rs 11.67 per liter in diesel. NOC is also bearing a loss of Rs 1.87 billion in 15 days through the sale of all petroleum products, including the cooking gas, as per the organization.
NOC claims that it is still facing a loss of Rs 461.22 per cylinder of cooking gas, and will face a loss of Rs 338 million in sale of petrol, Rs 898 million in sale of diesel and Rs 682 million in sale of cooking gas in 15 days.
Before adjusting the fuel price, NOC had estimated a fortnightly loss of Rs 2.22 billion from the sale of fuel. The Corporation has stated that it will be forced to increase the price of fuel in the coming days as the price of petroleum products is skyrocketing in the international market.
