Irresponsible state
The Himalayan Times
10
september 2012
One should not get surprised when the state
owned NOC hikes the prices of petroleum products with reasons as reported in
“Govt taking general public for a ride” (THT, 4 Sept. Page 1). NOC will continue
to deceive the consumers in the days ahead unless and until it is owned by the
state. The officials who are at the helm of the state have made it as their
regular source of corruptions and will continue to do so until the political
leaders, who assume the concerned ministerial chairs, do lack the high
political sincerity, commitment, self-discipline and accountability towards the
state and its people.
I was amazed to read in the news article that
NOC’s former GM Digamber Jha saying that the current price hike was nothing but
the result of wrong projection of quantity that is required for monthly
consumption and wrong calculation of prices. Was not he the person once who was
responsible for mismanagement of NOC for many years while occupying GM’s chair?
Was not he also responsible for showing regular loss to the NOC and pocketing
the differences of erroneously pricing of the petroleum products? Did he ever
try to fix and establish the price of the petroleum products in more systematic
and scientific method? It is always easy to put blame on others.
The general public continue to get robbed
by the state unless and until the consumer rights activist group and the
consumers join hands, come out to the streets and make severe protest to the
government. Until the private parties are given the permission to import and
sell petroleum products, NOC’s pricing monopoly will not stop. As a result, the
NOC will continue to cheat the consumers in the coming days in the name of its
loss. If the government is sincere and accountable to the people, it should be
prepared to lower the tax and wave the VAT. This will reduce the price of the
petroleum products giving relief to the people.
Rai Biren Bangdel
Maharajgunj, Kathmandu
