There has been an alarming decline in the quality of petroleum products in Nepal, an official at Department of Commerce (DoC) said in Kathmandu Wednesday.

"Petroleum quality has been declined as the government-owned Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) suspended market inspection after it transferred the responsibility of fixing retail pricing to dealers, " Shanti Ram Sharma, acting director of DoC, told reporters.

Adulteration has escalated in recent months, as NOC has stopped its regular inspections and no other inspection committee has been set up to monitor the petroleum market, Sharma revealed.

"Just last week only, we caught a dealer adulterating kerosene in petrol in Jhapa district, some 400 km east of Kathmandu," said Sharma who is also member-secretary of the Consumers Rights Protection Council, a government institute.

The DoC was conducting its market inspection regularly though, Sharma noted, adding, "however, due to broader responsibility and limited manpower, we have not been able to concentrate on cases of fuel adulteration."

Under the existing system, NOC is an agency responsible to ensure that the petroleum products supplied in the market are up to the mark.

NOC officials, however, said that NOC has suspended its market inspection as per the government's decision to confine its role to wholesale market only.

"While introducing the wholesale pricing system and leaving retail pricing for dealers to determine, the government decided to curtail its role, making it liable for transactions and quality up to NOC depots only," said Umesh Dahal, chief of the NOC.

Source: Xinhua