Nepal started imposing restrictions on the movement of vehicles on Sunday as a blockade of cargo trucks continued along the border with India, severely limiting the supplies of essential commodities, especially fuel.
Officials said that cars will be permitted to run on alternate days based on the last digit of their license plate. Trucks carrying supplies from neighboring India stopped entering Nepal this past week after angry protests following the adoption of a new constitution. Nepal, a small Himalayan nation, depends heavily on supplies from India, its giant neighbor. Siva Tripathi, an official at Nepal’s Ministry of Supplies, said that Indian security personnel and customs officials had barred supply trucks from entering Nepal, citing orders from Delhi. “Transportation has come to a complete halt since Thursday. So we are facing the shortage of some essential items, including petroleum products,” Tripathi said. India’s foreign ministry has denied that there have been restrictions imposed on Indian suppliers and blamed protests inside Nepal for the disrupted movement of oil tankers and trucks loaded with medicine, sugar, salt, food and cooking gas cylinders.
