Feature: Nepali housewives forced to use firewood due to gas shortage

Nepal's capital city is wracked by a shortage of petroleum products, including gasoline, diesel and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

Because of the shortage, there are long queues every day at gasoline stations where motorists and private and for hire vehicles line up to fill up their tanks. Due to the shortage in fuel, there has also been less traffic in city streets.

Nepalese housewives are also in a difficult situation because of the shortage of LPG, which is used for cooking. Many housewives in fact have resorted to using firewood or charcoal in cooking.

"I have two LPG cylinders, but we cannot buy a refill from our usual distributor shop. I have started using firewood to cook our food so that my children won't go hungry," Rama Dahal, a housewife in Bhaktapur, told Xinhua on Thursday.

This traditional method of cooking has now become popular since wood is easily available from furniture stores. There are also discarded pieces of wood from the streets and nearby forests.

The shortage of fuel products has soared during the last few days after India imposed an unofficial blockade of petroleum exports to Nepal to express its dissatisfaction over the recently- promulgated new constitution.

Unfortunately, Nepal imports all its petroleum products only from India, its southern neighbor. Since l975, the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC), the state-run fuel monopoly, has been the exclusive partner of the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) in providing petroleum products to the landlocked Himalayan country.

Not just housewives, but hotels and restaurants have also started using firewood in preparing food. Most of the restaurants have reduced their regular menus and some small cafes have closed.

Risna Sweet Restaurant is among establishments hit by the LPG shortage. The restaurant has placed a big poster of their revised limited menu at the entrance.

"We are using firewood to prepare food items because of gas shortage. We only serve few items that can be cooked in large quantities in few minutes. From more than 100 items, we now serve only five items," the head cook of the restaurant said.

Most of the restaurants in Kathmandu are only serving tea or coffee prepared by machines and limited items that are prepared in electric ovens.

Following the lack of fuel imports from India, the demand for electric cooking gas heaters and briquettes have also gone up in the capital.

Bio-mass briquette has been one of the best alternatives of cooking gas these days. There are two types of briquette cook stoves in Nepalese market, which are easily available in the city at reasonable price.

Kabita Koirala, 29, a housewife and an officer of an NGO, said she has been using bio-briquette to cook food for the past week.

"It is easy to cook and cheaper. I can cook two-time meal with less than 10 U.S. dollars per month whereas a gas cylinder costs 15 dollars," she said.

Koirala said the shortage has taught Nepali people not to be over dependent on liquefied petroleum gas. Endi