Gauri Kumari Yadav resigns a day after accusing private LPG bottlers of failing to cooperate with the government amid shortages in Kathmandu Valley…reports Asian Lite News Desk
Nepal’s Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Gauri Kumari Yadav resigned on Thursday, a day after facing criticism over controversial remarks targeting cooking gas bottlers amid an LPG shortage in the Kathmandu Valley.
Yadav submitted her resignation to Prime Minister Balendra Shah, according to her secretariat, becoming the third minister to leave the Shah-led government since he became prime minister on March 27.
Her resignation came a day after she told a meeting of the Industry Committee of the House of Representatives that LPG supplies would not become smooth “until the industrialists are brought to heel.”
The remarks drew strong criticism from Nepal’s private sector, with the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) describing them as “highly objectionable, irresponsible and unfortunate.”
The apex private-sector body said the government should focus on addressing disruptions in LPG supplies rather than blaming businesses for the shortage.
The FNCCI said the movement of LPG tankers had been disrupted by landslides along the Prithvi Highway, a key route connecting Kathmandu with other parts of Nepal. A massive landslide in the Krishnabhir area had further affected the movement of tankers and contributed to supply disruptions.
The organisation warned that publicly blaming industrialists and traders could undermine their morale and weaken trust between the government and the private sector.
It said businesses and the government had been working together on rescue, relief efforts and the supply of essential goods following the natural disaster that struck the country on August 26.
On Wednesday, Yadav had said the cooking gas shortage was continuing because private LPG bottlers were not cooperating with the government in efforts to address the supply crisis, particularly in the Kathmandu Valley.
Yadav’s resignation is the latest political setback for the Shah-led cabinet.
On April 9, Shah dismissed then Labour, Employment and Social Security Minister Deepak Kumar Sah on the recommendation of his party, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP).
Then Home Minister Sudhan Gurung resigned on April 22 over alleged business links with controversial businessman Deepak Bhatta, who is in police custody in connection with a money-laundering investigation. Shah later reappointed Gurung as home minister on June 9 after a government-formed committee reportedly found no evidence of improper financial dealings.
The latest controversy is not the first involving a minister in Shah’s cabinet over remarks concerning the business community.
A few months ago, Infrastructure Development Minister Sunil Lamsal faced criticism after a video circulated on social media showed him telling officials to “break the legs” of a contractor who had failed to complete work during an inspection of the Nagdhunga-Mugling road project along the Prithvi Highway.
Prime Minister Shah himself had also sparked controversy during an election rally in February, when he said contractors could, if necessary, be “locked in a shed, laid on the road or tied to a tree” to ensure the timely completion of road projects.
