The government has backtracked on its decision to hike the price of cooking gas by over Rs 600, a day after the announcement.
"Due to lack of necessary preparations, dual pricing system of LPG has been withheld," Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai has tweeted.
The government on Tuesday had announced the hike, and that each household would receive a subsidy of Rs 550 per month on a cylinder of gas.
However, commercial users would not receive such handouts, the government had said. Bank of Kathmandu had been assigned the responsibility of handing out the subsidies.
However, the Prime Minister refrained from clearly stating that the decision has been revoked. Sources at the Ministry of Commerce confirmed that the Prime Minister has ordered Nepal Oil Corporation not to implement the price hike decision.
The news comes as student unions affiliated to various political parties held demonstrations in various parts of the country demanding that the decision be revoked.
According to NOC, the state-owned monopoly has been incurring a loss of Rs 587.03 per cylinder of LPG. nepalnews.com
