Hundreds of leftwing students and youths took to the streets of the Nepalse capital Wednesday to protest whopping increases in fuel prices the government says were prompted by the Iraq war.The demonstration was held at Ratna Park in the heart of Kathmandu, where protestors slammed the government and demanded it control leakages and end corruption in the Nepal Oil Corp. (NOC) rather than hike prices.
The protestors yelled slogans such as, "Withdraw the price hike" and "Stop corruption in the NOC!"
The demonstration was supported by the Nepal Communist Party-United Marxist and Leninist.
The NOC, citing higher international oil prices due to the Iraq war, Wednesday announced it was increasing the prices of fuel products by up to 64.7 percent with immediate effect.
Petrol prices were increased 7.69 percent, diesel by 33.96 percent, kerosene by 64.7 percent, liquid petroleum gas by 7.69 percent and aircraft fuel by 18.05 percent, NOC said in a statement.
"The price of petrol has been increased from 52 rupees (66 US cents) a litre to 56 rupees, diesel from 26.50 rupees to 35.50 rupees," it said.
The price of kerosene was fixed at 28 rupees a litre from a previous 17 rupees.
NOC also hiked the price of aeroplane fuel from 28.50 rupees a litre to 34 rupees and that of cooking gas from 650 rupees a cylinder to 700 rupees.
However NOC said it would give each family 10 litres of kerosene at 23 rupees a litre under a ration system which is expected to be introduced soon.
It was unclear if this would be a one-off for families or offered over periods of time.
NOC said it had been incurring a loss of 10 million rupees a month for the past year and the price hike was inevitable.
The last time the government increased fuel prices was in November.
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