Nepal declares two-day holiday in a week due to severe fuel shortage

The ongoing war in the Middle East has led to a global fuel shortage. To deal with this situation, Nepal has declared two-day holiday in a week. Yesterday, Sunday (April 5), an emergency cabinet meeting decided to increase the weekly holiday in government offices and educational institutions from one day to two days (Saturday and Sunday).
Nepalese government spokesperson Shasmeet Pokharel said that the decision was taken due to the inconvenient situation of fuel supply. Earlier, Nepal had only Saturday as a holiday. According to the new decision, from now on, government offices will be open from 9 am to 5 pm Monday to Friday.
The government said that the issue of converting petrol and diesel-powered vehicles to electric power is also being considered to deal with the fuel shortage. However, no details were given in this regard. Nepal, a country of about 30 million people, does not have its own oil or fossil fuel sources. Since the country is almost completely dependent on India for fuel, it is directly affected by fluctuations in international market prices.
Meanwhile, the price of jet fuel almost doubled on Thursday. The state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation said that despite the price hike, it is still incurring huge losses on other fuel products.