फोटो साभार : सृष्टि काफ्लेको ट्विटर from Pahilo Post
http://www.pahilopost.com/content/-9544.html The forlorn convoy of petrol trucks that will accept the China "grant fuel." would you attempt this road during the torrential rains of monsoon or winter?
ICYMI
The Nepalis who live in Terai are protesting the new constitution by cutting off all fuel shipments through the Terai from India. The international community has urged the government to address the issues raised by their citizens in Terai, but this is not happening. Instead, the Kathmandu-based government has negotiated with China to obtain petrol products overland through the Himalaya. Click here to find the vimeo channel of Subina Shrestha, an excellent reporter from Nepal who works for Al Jazeera. Her videos serve as an excellent history of the story.
The picture above comes from Pahilo Post, which is in Nepali. it reminds me of those Hollywood movies with the conestoga wagons crossing the mountains. If you have been reading these diaries, you know that in my other blog I described the difficulties of getting petrol for Kathmandu from China. (there are some hills, known as "The Himalaya," in the way).
Snowfall plays spoilsport in bid to collect petrol from China
From Republica. Here is the proud convoy of Tankers departing for the China border. What stands out for me is, I have never seen these trucks when they were freshly washed.
RASUWA, Oct 31: Four tankers have left for Kerung, China through Rasuwagadhi border entry point to receive petrol to be provided by China as grant assistance.
Spokesperson of Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) Deepak Baral said only four out of 12 tankers were sent as Chinese tankers are yet to arrive due to obstruction of road by snowfall 25 kilometers from Kerung Customs.
The NOC was planning to collect 100 tons of petrol (144,000 liter) in the first lot. 36,000 liters petrol will enter Nepal till Saturday evening. Spokesperson Baral said NOC plans to collect all 1000 tons of petrol within 10 days.
- See more at: http://myrepublica.com/...
In Birgunj, 700 trucks would enter Nepal
each day, prior to the Protests led by Nepalis of the town. Now, thousands of trucks are backed up in India. Right now, in the test run of petrol tankers, eight of the twelve tankers are stranded in a blizzard in China. and this is only one day. Neither the Chinese government, nor the Indian government,
can cast a weather-spell to control the weather in Tibet. Imagine if they were trying to be fully operational and
700 trucks got
stuck in a blizzard?
This is the Himalaya from the other side, a view most Nepalis have never seen. There is nothing green here, because of the severe weather. More desolate than anything in North Dakota ( and yes, I have been through western North Dakota). Can you picture 700 cargo trucks and tankers stranded here for, say, three days?
Click here to read Guest Blog from a Petrochemical Businessman, on my other blog.
View from the Terai?
There is a site named Madhesiyouth. This is one of the amazing things about the present crisis - due to the internet and social media, the protesters have an independent voice not beholden to Nepal's version of "mainstream media." The site is based in Austin Texas and hosted by a Nepali student at UTA. They recently found and published a directive to send 75% all fuel stocks remaining in Nepal, to Kathmandu.
The Home Ministry has issued an order to all district administration offices, Nepal Oil Corporation, Nepal Police and Nepal Armed Police Force to direct 75% of all fuel imports to Kathmandu. In other words, the Home Ministry has asked that 75% of all fuel (petrol, diesel, kerosene, aviation fuel, liquified petroleum gas) that Nepal imports should be redirected to Kathmandu
.
I write these diaries because nobody in USA is covering this story in detail. I'm presently in USA but have made numerous trips to Nepal, and I've written two books - the second book is a novel that explores the idea of how the country where Buddha was born can fall prey to violence.
In the meantime, there are a few other issues. In the Karnali region (far west), it is now rumored that there will be a famine to rival the one that took place there in the 1980s. In the hills, the efforts to get supplies to the earthquake victims ground to a halt before winter, and the "food insecurity" issue is less likely to be solved before winter. In the Terai, where half the population lives, the general strike has now gone on for nearly three months. The negotiations between the Nepalis of Terai and the Kathmandu government have stalled. The international community has urged Nepal to address it's internal issues. We all hope that this will be resolved.
The situation has been called "Lose-Lose" and it sure looks that way.