Fuel shortage in Nepal forces schools to close, public transport to halt

KATMANDU, Nepal: Schools closed, garbage piled up on the streets and many buses stopped running in Nepal’s capital Monday because of a fuel shortage caused by a general strike called by ethnic minorities demanding more rights.

Almost all schools in Katmandu and its suburbs were forced to shut because school buses had no fuel to transport students, said Lakchya Bahadur K.C. of the Private and Boarding School Association of Nepal.


“These schools will remain closed as long as the fuel shortage continues,” he said Monday.

Trash piled up on street corners after garbage trucks operated by the city stopped running Sunday.

Thousands of vehicles lined up at service stations in hopes of getting fuel.

“I slept in my taxi so that I would get some gasoline when the station opened in the morning,” said Laxman Tamang, a taxi driver waiting in line.

IHT