KATHMANDU, Nov. 8 (Xinhua)– Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC), the state owned oil monopoly in Nepal, has said there is virtually no supply of fuel from India since last five days as the tension between the two neighbours has flared following the killing of an Indian national in police firing at protesters.
The Nepal government said that the Indian national was killed in police retaliation after a group of protesters including Indian nationals attacked Nepal police in Birgunj. India maintained that deceased person was innocent.
Cold relations between the two neighbours have already been soured since the incident. Madhesi community share close cultural families ties with Indians across the border.
Mukunda Prasad Ghimire, acting director at the NOC, said that only one bullet of cooking gas was allowed to enter through eastern Kakarbhitta-Panitanki border point with India since Monday. On Saturday, another cooking gas bullet entered Nepal through western Rupaidiha border point.
About 300 fuel tankers including cooking gas bullets have been stranded on the Indian side of different border points, according to NOC.
“In Raxual-Birgunj border point, the main trade route with India and the most volatile area, as many as 208 gas bullets have been stranded in the last two months,” said Ghimire.
Nepal has blamed India for imposing “unofficial embargo” on it, while India rejects the charge and blames the obstruction caused by Madhesi protestors. Meanwhile, Nepal’s Department of Customs said that India has slowed the clearance of non-fuel cargo trucks to enter into Nepal since the incident of the killing of the Indian national.