By Our Correspondent
Humla, Mar. 8: Until recently, when the price of cooking gas was high, the number of Humla people using it was limited to a handful of households. But that has changed now, thanks to the marked drop in the its price.

Shushila Rokaya, who has just connected her stove to the gas, said that the number of gas users was increasing after its price fell by fifty percent.She has started using the gas after getting a cylinder of gas at Rs. 6,500 in the village.

She said that not only the price had become cheaper but also the work in kitchen had become quick. “To make things sweeter, dishes are now clean, and smoke and dust have become things of the past.”

She said that in the past, when the price of the gas was high, it was used only by wealthy families, but now more and more middle class families were using it.Rokaya added that until recently only a handful of families were using gas stoves, but now that number has increased by 50 percent.

In the past, only fifty families were using LPG, but now that number is more than three hundred in the district headquarters alone.The number of people buying gas on a daily basis is also increasing. It does not include the number of areas outside the district headquarters.

Those who used gas for the first time had to pay up to Rs. 14,000 per cylinder.But at the moment that has fallen to Rs. 6,500 per cylinder.Another housewife, Saraswati Lama, said that she started using gas after she saw increase in her income, making it affordable.

She said that they started using gas as they no longer could afford the exorbitant price for firewood.Gas trader, Lokendra Shahi, said that the price of gas had come down after the Karnali Corridor was connected to Salisalla, in Humla.

He said that it used to be expensive to bring the gas from Gamgadhi, in Mugu, using mules, but after trucks started transporting it, the price came down drastically.He added that if the bridge over the Karnali River could be constructed in Salisalla, the vehicle would reach Dullikuna and the price would reduce further by 50 percent.

Even now, the gas is available at Rs. 4,500 per cylinder in the settlements connected to the roads of the rural municipalities in the southern area in Simkot, the district headquarters.
The number of gas traders has also increased after the fall in price. Initially, there were two traders in the district, but now that number is more than twelve. However, not all families have easy access to gas.