By: Staff Writer
Colombo (LNW): More than 150 fuel station dealers have not maintained 50 per cent capacity stock and placed adequate orders to maintain stock requirements as of yesterday anticipating a fuel price revision next month.
Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera said the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) has informed that 101 fuel station dealers have not placed their orders for Octane 92 Petrol and 61 dealers for Lanka Auto diesel to maintain their stock requirements as of yesterday.
He said last month the CPC took over the management of several fuel stations that had not maintained minimum stocks & begun legal proceedings on several other dealers.
The Minister request all fuel station dealers to maintain adequate stocks and place orders accordingly.
Meanwhile, the Minister said CPC has adequate stocks for delivery. He said the Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminals Limited (CPSTL) and CPC plants have 124,690 metric tons of diesel and 5,651 metric tons of super diesel as of 8.30 am today.
Also, they have 19,903 metric tons of Octane 92 and 4,537 metric tons of Octane 95 petrol.In addition, 26,539 metric tons of jet fuel are in stock.
The number of complaints received about the malpractices that are taking place at the petrol sheds is steadily increasing by the day, the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) said.
Nearly 200 complaints related to these irregularities were received by the department.In order to ensure that the fuel quality is properly maintained, 20 fuel samples have been collected from filling stations around the country and handed over to the Industrial Technology Institute (ITI) for testing.
“During the inspections conducted across the country, it was revealed that several filling stations were hiding fuel and several filling stations have been accused of dispensing less fuel,” the PUCSL said
– Sri Lanka’s Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera has suspended 40 fuel stations for breaching the government’s QR code rule while the latest technology will be implemented to ensure the fuel stocks several months ago.
Sri Lanka is recovering from one of its worst fuel crises in history. Motorists were forced to wait days in congested queues for pump fuel in mid last year soon after the island nation declared sovereign debt default, which deprived it of its external borrowing.
The QR code system was introduced in August last year to limit fuel to vehicles aiming to supply most vehicles with lesser quantity. However, some fuel stations have supplied fuel more than the weekly limited quantity and some have supplied even without QR code, officials say.
