Kudos to student unions

The Himalayan Times

18 February 2013

The government was forced to reverse its decision with regard to unscientific hiking the price of cooking gas. Thanks to collective protest made by the students’ union. Dr. Baburam Bhattarai led coalition government had tried to feel the nerves of the people by abruptly hiking the price as reported in “NOC jacks up LPG price by Rs. 630” (THT, 13 Feb. Page 1). There must be big kickback involved in doing so considering the amount of price hike. It’s very sad to see the government’s anti-people working style that has hard hit the lives of the common people. The recent price increase in kerosene has already made the lives of the common people miserable.

It was totally unjustifiable decision of the government to abruptly increase the price of LPG by Rs 630 without doing any proper homework for introducing dual cylinder systems in the market. What was the purpose of asking the consumers to collect the subsidized amount of Rs.550 from the bank rather than providing the gas cylinder in the subsidized rate from the gas depots?

Whichever political party or parties ascended to the political helm, no concrete measures were taken to scientifically improve the pricing system of either LPG or other petroleum products. None of them seemed serious in privatizing the NOC or inviting the private parties to take up the business. What are the benefits of not doing so has been the peoples concern. Unless the government privatises the NOC, the pricing monopoly of the government and NOC will persist.

Rai Biren Bangdel

Maharajgunj, Kathmandu

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Who is he?

Biren P. Bangdel (also known as Rai Biren Bangdel ) is a development management consultant, project analyst, and citizen journalist based in Kathmandu, Nepal . Professional Profile & Background: Project Executive : He has served as an Executive Director and consultant for organizations like Om Ganeshaya Namah Pvt. Ltd. and Merryknoll Nepal (Asha Deep). He also served as a Campus Director in Weigan and Leigh College .He was Deputy Project Manager in Nepal-Swiss funded Rural Health Development Project and Deputy Team Leader in Nepal-CIDA funded Rural Development Project. Project Expertise : He specializes in managing and monitoring multi-million rupee rural development, healthcare, and educational administration projects across Nepal. His core career history spans executive roles within international non-governmental organizations, bilateral foreign aid bilateral projects , and private management enterprises. Media & Commentary : He is an active blogger, online commen...

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