Kanchanpur, April 16 -- A growing fuel shortage in India, coupled with rising prices, is forcing Nepali migrant workers to return home.

Chandra Bahadur Budha from ward 5 of Tajakot Rural Municipality in Humla had been working as a daily wage labourer in Gauchar of Uttarakhand for the past five months. But the worsening fuel crisis, caused by the Middle East conflict, left him unable to afford or even find cooking gas.

"For about a month, I have been cooking on firewood because gas became too expensive and hard to find. Earlier, we could still buy gas on the black market, but now it is either unavailable or unaffordable," said Budha after crossing the Gaddachauki border point on Thursday. "We spent more time searching for gas than workin...