Kathmandu, March 4
Nepal’s Ambassador to India, Deep Kumar Upadhyaya, claimed on Friday that India does not intend to reduce the supply of petroleum products to Nepal. He suggested Nepal Oil Corporation to demand more oil from India in view of the oil crisis resulting from the blockade.
The diplomat said this while talking to Onlinekhabar from New Delhi. He said: I feel sad on hearing that the oil supply situation has not eased, though the blockade has ended. I have told oil corporation (NOC) to distribute oil to the people as per their need, and approach me if there’s a supply-related crisis.
When Onlinekhabar pointed that Indian Oil Corporation has been supplying only 70 per cent of Nepal’s oil requirement citing orders from ‘high above’, Ambassador Upadhyaya said: I have not found the Centre (the Indian government) issuing such directives. “Authority figures have clarified to me during converstations that they have no policy of cutting oil supply (to Nepal). They said they have not been able to fulfil the demand at times due to technical reasons.
On Wednesday, Ambassador Upadhyaya said, he talked to Dharmendra Pradhan, India’s Petroleum Minister, about the oil supply situation. “During the talks, the minister expressed commitment to supplying oil (to Nepal) as per the demand.”
“The oil crisis in Nepal will not ease if we continue to place orders that we used to place in normal times. We should demand two-three times more than the requirement in normal times. I have been telling this to NOC,” he said, adding: We can talk to the Indian government via authorities concerned if we do not get oil as per our demand.
“The oil corporation should inform the line ministry, the line ministry should inform the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and MoFA should inform us (the Nepali Embassy) about the situation in detail. Then we can take up the matter with the Indian government. NOC will have to do more than just complain about the lack of oil,” he said.
