UNP blames Govt. for bad petrol

5 September 2011 03:30 pm Views - 3141

The United National Party (UNP) said today, it was too late for the government to ask the company which supplied contaminated petrol to Sri Lanka, to pay for the damages because the consignment was accepted and distributed without having rejected it in the first place.

UNP spokesman and Galle District MP Gayantha Karunatilleke told a news conference the decision arrived at by the three-member committee was of no avail.

He said compensation should be paid to people whose vehicles had been damaged as a result of using the contaminated petrol without laying down conditions and ceilings and added that more than 2,000 motor vehicles and more than 450 filing station pumps had been damaged.

Mr. Karunatilleke said those found responsible in importing this stock of petrol should be brought to book irrespective of their status or position and added that even the committee appointed by the minister had recommended that officials involved must be asked to pay for the losses incurred by the corporation.

He said it was not possible for a public servant to enter into such a deal without the knowledge of higher-ups. “This can be seen in the way the state machinery works in the country today,” Mr. Karunatilleke said. (Yohan Perera)