Nepal Oil Corporation, the country’s state-owned trader, has on Tuesday increased the prices of diesel and kerosene each by Rs. 03.00 per litre, according to Commerce Secretary Purushottam Ojha.
The Corporation has attributed the price rise to the state’s inability to control the re-sale of diesel and kerosene at a higher price, at Nepali border points with India.
It has stated no other factor for the rise.
The price rise of diesel and kerosene directly affects the lives of the working class people in Nepal.
Supply Minister Rajendra Mahato had warned one month ago that the petroleum price was going to be increased soon.
Nepal is yet far behind in the combat against all-pervasive corruption, ill-governance and dysfunctions of its state mechanisms.
The present rise in the petroleum price is also considered as an indicator of the heavy influence of black market forces, operating in nexus with political players, on state power mechanisms.