Small cooking gas cylinders banned in Nepal are found to be openly sold in the Nepalgunj market.

In Banke’s local markets, small cooking gas bottles imported unlawfully are sold largely. The illegal import has been unchallenged due to open border between Nepal and India. A joint market monitoring team led by the District Administration Office, Banke on Sunday carried out a market monitoring targeting gas dealers in the markets.

The monitoring aimed to find out whether the trading of LPG cylinders was going on as per market ethics, said Commerce Office, Nepalgunj chief Krishna Poudel.

During the supervision, three, out of five dealers, were found violating market disciplines as they were supplying banned LPG cylinders. "They have been fined Rs 20,000 each," he said, adding the follow-up monitoring would take place.

However, those LPG cylinders authorized for the sale in Nepal were found to have fixed weight. The dealers have been directed to put a gas weighing scale as well.

The use of banned gas cylinder is risky and consumers should be aware of probable consequences from its use, he asserted.

There is no refilling center for small gas cylinders in Nepal. However, traders use normal gas cylinders to refill small ones which increases the risk of accident.