Feature: Nepalese gov't selling firewood as cooking alternative to fuel-starved public

In a bid to tackle the deepening fuel crisis, the Nepalese government has started selling firewood to the public from Sunday. The country, which uses firewood for cooking as the only option in parts of its rural villages even today, has now shifted this traditional cooking method into the urbanized cities as well.

This latest move by the government follows an acute shortage of petroleum products like petrol, diesel and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), as its southern neighbor India has been allegedly unofficially blocking the supplies for the last two months.

As public have been left high and dry to cook food due to the lack of LPG, the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation has started selling firewood from two depots of the Timber Cooperation of Nepal, in Kathmandu.

Fifty-three-year-old homemaker Saraswati Katuwal reached one of the depots in the valley early on Sunday with her husband. She was delighted to receive the first batch of firewood weighing 100 kilograms after waiting for three hours.

Appreciating the government's move, Katuwal told Xinhua, "I have been cooking on a stove since two months ago because of a lack of cooking gas and firewood. I am happy to receive this assistance from the government. It is better to suffer smoke than to die of hunger."

The newly-formed government made this decision only last week after the unofficial embargo wracked the country, especially its capital.

After hearing the news of wood being distributed, hundreds of people queued up at the depot from early morning to receive their share of relief. The government has fixed the price of firewood to Rs 15 (about 14 U.S. cents) per kilogram with a quota of selling up to 100 kg of firewood for a single family.

But many people were seen dissatisfied by the management of the sale of firewood as the wooden logs were huge and unmanageable to transport to people's homes.

Some also mentioned the hindrance of needing to show documents to prove citizenship before buying the wood.

They also believe the firewood distribution is only a temporary solution since the population is high and firewood is limited.

Sarita Gurung, a mother of two shared with Xinhua, "I queued up here for hours with my small child. But now, they say that I cannot get the firewood today as stock has already been cleared. The government should have supplied a larger quantity so that we shouldn't have returned home empty-handed."

During the past two months of crisis, the Himalayan nation has been turning to the traditional method of cooking using firewood, either in in household kitchens, or in restaurants and hotels.

However, there is a lack of sufficient wood in the market. To meet the huge demand, the firewood has been brought to the capital city from the forests of the southern plain districts of Bara and Nawalparasi.

But even the first batch could not fulfill the demand of the families.

"We had received 27,000 kilograms of firewood as the first batch on two trucks. But, it was sufficient for only around 250 families. More trucks are on the way so we will distribute the firewood everyday," Suresh Rijal, a depot chief told Xinhua.

Beside limited stock of firewood, there are other difficulties for the public as well.

Kathmandu is home to nearly 4 million people, among whom more than 50 percent are migrants from different districts. Though the house-owners can easily use the firewood in open spaces like yards and balconies, those renting are finding it difficult to utilize this facility.

Many have regarded the selling of firewood by the government as an ideal yet temporary solution, but they are worried whether this idea could benefit the whole fuel-starved Kathmanduties or not, and for how long. Endit