China to provide fuel to Nepal amid undeclared blockade by India

China will supply Nepal with 1.3 million litres of fuel to ease crippling shortages after protests over a new constitution blocked imports from India, a Nepali official said.

Scores of trucks have been stranded at a key India-Nepal border checkpoint for around a month, cutting off vital supplies and forcing fuel rationing across the landlocked Himalayan nation.

The shortages led to overnight queues at gas stations in Kathmandu and prompted the state-run oil company to ask foreign firms to airlift supplies into the country as it struggles to recover from devastating earthquakes.

India has had a monopoly on Nepal’s fuel supplies for decades but tensions over the blockade have prompted Kathmandu to turn to New Delhi’s rival China.

“China has agreed to send us 1,000 metric tonnes, or 1.3 million litres of petrol, as a grant,” said Sushil Bhattarai, acting deputy managing director at the state-run Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC).

The fuel will be transported via a land crossing which was repaired and reopened this month after suffering damage in the earthquake that hit Nepal in April.