President calls special meeting to discuss fuel crisis
April 16, 2022 12:57 pm
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has called a meeting with the officials of the Energy Ministry and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) to discuss the fuel crisis.
The meeting is currently in progress at the President’s House in Colombo Fort.
According to reports, the members of petroleum trade unions have also been invited to take part in the discussion.
Meanwhile, the CPC chairman Sumith Wijesinghe has requested all owners of petroleum bowsers to send their vehicles to relevant terminals and depots in order to streamline the distribution process this weekend as adequate stocks of fuel are available.
The CPC yesterday limited the dispensation of fuel volumes to vehicles – except for buses, lorries and other vehicles used for commercial purposes.
Thereby, filling stations are permitted to pump only fuel worth Rs. 1,000 for motorcycles at a single time. For three-wheelers, the limit has been set at Rs. 1,500 worth of fuel. Meanwhile, the maximum amount of fuel allowed to be dispensed to cars, vans and SUVs is worth Rs. 5,000.
However, the fuel distribution process is yet to be restored to normal in the country. Filling stations in many areas remained closed today.
Meanwhile, the unloading of fuel stocks from the tankers that arrived in Sri Lanka under the Indian credit line is currently in progress. The two fuel tankers contain 41,000 metric tonnes of diesel and 37,500 metric tonnes of petrol, according to the CPC.
