26 March 2022 12:00 am Views - 161
By Sandun A. Jayasekera
An inquiry will be launched to find out whether there was a conspiracy to collect petrol in bulk to deliberately create a shortage in petrol in the country with the aim of directing the public anger at the government and thereby get political mileage, government spokesman, Plantation Minister Dr. Ramesh Pathirana said.
Minister Dr. Pathirana nonetheless admitted that there was a distribution problem and a shortage of diesel at filling stations, but the CYPETCO had distributed ample stocks of Petrol.
“The government has received a number of complaints on hoarding petrol by certain groups of people. We have reasons to believe that their modus operandi is to put the government on the spot and direct the anger of motorists at the government. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct an investigation on this act of sabotage” he stressed.
Responding to a journalist at the news briefing held at the Information Department, Minister Dr. Pathirana said the domestic gas shortage will come to an end in the next couple of days as demurrage had been paid and LCs had been opened to release two consignments of gas from two tankers docked at the port of Colombo.
However, the capacity of Litro Gas Company is only 100,000 cylinders per day. It is possible that if and when the demand exceeds 100,000 cylinders per day, there could be a shortage of Litro Gas in spite of ample stocks of gas imported, he added.
The state-owned monopoly, the CEB runs at a huge loss and as such the government will have to review the power tariff sooner than later. The cabinet did not discuss power tariffs this Monday, but the previous week paid attention to a proposal made by Transport Minister Dilum Amunugama to increase train fares. The cabinet next Monday will take a final decision on the way on how to increase train fares, Minister Dr. Pathirana added.