The public are demanding a quick solution to the government’s indecision on petrol prices after scarcities and limited supplies at filling stations in Colombo and its suburbs saw long and winding queues at the sheds on Thursday and Friday.
Many vehicle owners had to wait hours to purchase petrol after the government hesitated to reduce petrol prices by Rs. 22 following a Supreme Court order to do so.
With the Supreme Court ordering on Wednesday that the price of a litre of petrol be brought down to Rs.100, many filling stations opted to wait until the price revision was implemented before placing fresh orders to avoid having to sell petrol at a price lower than the purchase price.
Meanwhile, motorists were lining up in long queues at filling stations with concerned vehicle owners wanting to fill their tanks fearing there could be a shortage during the weekend.
The government announced that it would not take a decision on the fuel price till the cabinet meets on Wednesday as the Supreme Court directive was received only on Friday. With Christmas and New Year celebrations drawing nearer, many disgruntled motorists spoke to The Sunday Times.
Nimal Pathiraja, a three-wheeler driver for seven years told the Sunday Times that there was no point reducing the price of petrol if there wasn’t any petrol to buy from the sheds.
“I got only two hires on Thursday because I spent half the day trying to pump some fuel. This is our livelihood and if we can get petrol at a cheaper rate that would be good but not having fuel at all is causing us a huge loss,” he said.
Channa Perera who has been driving his trishaw for almost 14 years said he had to wait two hours in the queue and was forced to purchase 95 Octane petrol at Rs. 135 just to give him enough petrol to operate his trishaw for the day.
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Long queues at petrol sheds on Armour Street and Bloemendhal Rd. |
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“We don’t care about the price anymore. All we want is a quick answer from the government so that situations like this can be avoided and we can continue our business,” he said.
Other three-wheeler drivers in the area charged that it was a crime to deprive them of fuel especially during a peak season like the Christmas season where they look forward to better profits.
Meanwhile, countless motorists who opted to wait for the price reduction to fill their tanks were also seen in long queues waiting to purchase what little petrol there was at the sheds.
Niswa Riyazi a motorcyclist said that he didn’t see the point of a judiciary system or a Supreme Court order if the government was allowed to continue doing whatever it wanted.
“I don’t even see a point in reducing petrol prices because prices of other essential goods are not likely to follow suit,” he said.
Similar sentiments were expressed by Prabath Perera who works for a local shipping company. In frustration he said he would rather have petrol at a higher price than no petrol at all.
The petrol shed owners and dealers claimed that their orders were slowly coming in by Friday morning and that the situation had improved greatly following the large spread chaos on Thursday.
Uditha Senaratne, the dealer at a filling station in Maradana said he had received 6600 litres on Friday morning which was an order he placed on Wednesday.
“There were long queues on Thursday and Friday morning and many were scared that there may be a scarcity. However, strangely now the situation is stabilizing,” he said. With the government set to make a decision on the pricing of petrol a week after the Supreme Court order and with petrol sheds hesitant to purchase large quantities of petrol, motorists may be looking at a bleak Christmas in the coming week.
However, there were others who defended the government move saying it needed time to carefully decide on a strategy as it concerned taxes.
Praneeth Jayaratna, an owner of a spare parts company in Maradana said that the price formula needs to be carefully calculated as the income from fuel had been accommodated in the annual budget figures.
Mohammed Yussuf, a businessman said, “ We all are affected by the increasing cost of living and the government too is affected and therefore needs the money. But it is up to the authorities to carefully study both sides of the issue and take a decision”.
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