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| Sunday, 17 February 2002 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Bid to end fuel shortage in Jaffna by Tharuka Dissanaike To ease the acute shortage of petrol and kerosene in the Jaffna peninsula, the Ministry of Rehabilitation plans to take steps to hire its own tanker for fuel transport. Jaffna residents have to wait in long queues, often arriving at petrol sheds at pre-dawn, to collect their rationed quota of kerosene or to fill their motorbikes with petrol. Whereas the controlled prices of kerosene and petrol stand at Rs. 22 and Rs. 80 a litre respectively the blackmarket rates are Rs. 70 and Rs. 200. The kerosene shortage is a serious problem for Jaffna residents, since the majority of them depend on it for lighting and cooking. Minister of Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Refugees, Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena was witness to the hardships suffered by the Jaffna public during a visit there last week and instructed his Ministry officials to look into the possibility of hiring a tanker to transport fuel to the peninsula. "I was waiting in the queue from six o'clock," said K. Sivathasan, 35. "For the last two weeks there was no kerosene. Today, they have stocks but the pump is not working." It was 10.30 am by that time and there was a queue of over a hundred people. The monthly requirement of kerosene in Jaffna is 1.3 million litres. But the transported amount does not meet even half this demand. 250,000 litres of petrol is required, but in January only 50,000 litres had arrived in Jaffna. |
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