The country has been hit by shortage of petroleum products as the petroleum supply has been slashed by some 35 percent due to Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) increasing outstanding dues to be paid to Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).

As a result, long queues of vehicles have been witnessed in the gas stations in the recent days in the capital. The state-oil monopoly and the government is blamed for such situation as they have not been able to resolve the problem despite frequent crisis of the fuel in the country.

NOC had demanded Rs. 2 billion from the government to ease the supply of petroleum products as it owes Rs. 1.60 billion to the sole Indian oil supplier IOC.

Meanwhile, NOC got Rs. 750 million under the VAT refund facility on Wednesday from the Finance Ministry. However, the released amount is not sufficient to clear the dues of IOC, said NOC officials. Nepalnews.com