KHOTANG, June 10: Availabilty of fuel, daily consumables and construction materials has been affected in three districts after the Supreme Court issued an interim order that has barred heavy vehicles to ply on the BP Highway.
The three districts include Khotang, Okhaldhunga and Solukhumbu. Following the decision of the Supreme Court, trucks carrying fuel and construction materials from Biratnagar have been halted at Sindhuli, according to Sanman Khadka, who runs a hardware shop at Diktel.
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“With the halt, my order of Rs. 5 million worth construction materials has been stuck at Sindhuli,” Khadka said adding that the decision started to create shortage of supply in the district.
Daily consumables and construction materials from Biratnagar enter Khotang, Okhaldhunga and Solukhumbu via Katari-Ghurmi road. However, as the Katar- road is under maintainence, trucks from Biratnagar were using Mirchaiya-Bardibas-Khurkot. “With the court’s order, fuel supply has run short in the district,” according to Dhruba Shrestha, proprietor of Halesi Oil and Trade Suppliers said. A common consensus among business communities in Khotang is that if the Katari-Ghurmi road was under operation, the Supreme Court’s order wouldn’t have had affected.
The Supreme Court’s order has also affected earthquake victims who are awaiting construction materials to rebuild their homes, three years after the earthquake of April 25, 2015. “We have no materials in stock at the moment,”
The district consumes between 8,000-12,000 liters of diesel and 5,000-8,000 liters of petrol and stocks are running out. The disruption of fuel and construction materials have also affected “monsoon infrastructure development,” according to Khus Narayan Saiju, central member of Nepal Chamber of Commerce-Khotang said
