Agencies/Kathmandu

Still piecing lives together from the worst earthquakes in 75 years, Nepalis are being tested by another trial - weeks of protests against a new constitution have led to a critical shortage of fuel.
Protesters are blocking up to 4,000 trucks at the border with India, the main supply route into landlocked Nepal, while the road to China is still obstructed by landslides.
The earthquakes in April and May killed almost 9,000 people, mostly in districts close to Kathmandu.
Now, city residents are worrying whether they will be able to return to their villages during the Dashain festival later this month that is the highlight of the religious calendar.
In a teashop in Patan, a city of centuries-old temples a few miles south of Kathmandu that was badly damaged by the quakes, baker Binod, said he planned to go home to be with his family.
“It’s a three-hour journey by car if the roads are good,” said Binod, who only gave his first name. His house was among those destroyed in the district hardest hit by the April quake.
“By walking, I’m not sure how long it will take,” he said.
UN aid agency the World Food Programme (WFP) said it had enough fuel and food to meet its commitments for about a month.
“We have sufficient fuel so that our helicopters will be able to fly sorties and deliver vital supplies for the next three or four weeks. We have enough food stored to distribute for the next month,” a WPF spokeman said.
As government talks with opposition parties stalled, traffic at the border with India remained sporadic.
“We are positive about these talks, and we are confident that we can address the opinions and concerns of our friends and resolve this problem,” said KP Oli, a senior politician tipped to be Nepal’s next prime minister.
At the Patan teashop, owner Rabin Upadhyaya stopped serving by 10am (0415 GMT) to conserve the one gas canister he had left in his shop.
“We had to decide. Most people want tea in the morning - we can’t keep serving it all day when things are so short,” he said.
Owners of private vehicles in Nepal can no longer buy petrol, the government said yesterday.
The interior ministry said that only public vehicles would be given fuel for the next few days, until more supplies became available.
Plane travel has also been affected.
China Southern Airlines became the first airline to cancel its flights to Kathmandu, for two weeks.
“Others haven’t cancelled flights yet, but have either started getting wide-bodied craft instead of narrow, while some flights have merged their flights to ensure they are still in operation,” said Ram Kumar Raya, the chief of terminal management division at the Tribhuvan International Airport.
Earlier this week, Nepalese authorities asked international flights to re-fuel elsewhere before arriving.
The fuel crunch comes ahead of the Hindu festival of Dashain, during which Nepalis travel to their home towns to be with their family.
Indian authorities closed the border to goods and fuel trucks six days ago, citing security concerns about the violent anti-constitution protests that have hit southern Nepal during the past month.
Protests against the federal structure outlined in the recently adopted constitution have killed at least 47 people.
Now anger at Nepal’s new constitution which erupted in protests over the past few months is being redirected at India.
On Wednesday, India’s ambassador to Nepal, Ranjit Rae, told local media that the fuel shortage had occurred due to the violence and not because India wanted to cause problems.
He expressed concern over growing anti-India sentiment in Nepal, saying that the burning of the Indian flag undertaken by some protesters was “not a solution to the problem”.
External affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup insisted that “there has been no blockade by India at all.”
“We can only take goods up to the border. Beyond the border, it is the responsibility of the Nepalese side to ensure that there is adequate safety and security for the trucks to enter,” Swarup told reporters.
He said 4,310 trucks are waiting at the border. “They are waiting but they cannot proceed inside due to the disturbed security situation,” Swarup said.
Anti-India sentiment also appears to have spread to the entertainment sector in Nepal.
Cable TV operators in Nepal have stopped broadcasting Indian channels for the past two days, and many cinemas have taken Bollywood movies off their screens.