News
Thousands vent fury at cooking gas suppliers once again
Thousands of furious and exhausted Sri Lankans, among them the elderly and women with children, are once again lining up, even overnight, to buy a cooking gas cylinder from the duopoly of state-owned Litro Gas and private Laugfs Gas.
Just months after an island-wide crisis, yet again, cooking gas is not available for Sri Lankans who suffered last year from gas canisters leaking and catching fire, as well as explosions of cooking gas stoves after the state operator Litro Gas changed the composition of cooking gas. The cause of the explosions, some fatal, was confirmed by a panel. Under fire, Consumer Affairs Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanna admitted an increase in “accidents’’ in parliament. Litro Gas had blamed explosions on the cooking stoves and accessories such as hoses.
Long queue in Weligama. Pic by Tharanga Chanaka
Once more, Sri Lankans find themselves in a desperate situation.
At some locations in Colombo, hundreds of mostly poor people have been seen gathering to buy kerosene.
The two gas suppliers have claimed banks are not opening letters of credit and early this month Laugfs Gas, which has a small market share, flagged a serious shortage.
At many locations tired and angry people have been seen fighting for various reasons including queue jumping by cheats and those seeking back-door favours from dealers.
Private dealers themselves have become the focus of fury. Some are suspected to have held back stock to sell surreptitiously at marked up rates.
Homemakers and small business operators are outraged at galloping costs and shortages of all essentials. Consumer prices are galloping at a double-digit pace every month and are at record levels.
Housewife Chandra Hettiarachchi, a resident of Galle said that those living in apartments and houses with small gardens can not use firewood or kerosene to cook.
“Our house is built on 7 perches of land. We can’t find firewood from the garden. We have to depend on gas to cook our meals,’’ she said.
Electricity is also cut off at different times of the day and night and households are not able to use a microwave, or an induction cooker.
Students and workers living in lodgings in Colombo are suffering.
Anuradaha Liyanage, a student at a lodging near the University of Colombo, told the Sunday Times that she can not purchase gas even for Rs 3,000. She has chosen to get her meals from eateries.
“I am barely managing to survive in Colombo. The food cost is too high. Most small eateries are closed due to the cooking gas shortage. I am forced to spend more and eat from expensive places,’’ she said.
Eatery owners are among those spending hours, lining up to buy cooking gas cylinders.
Some said they have been forced to reduce the use of gas and will not make chips, kottu roti and fried rice.
W.A.D. Hemanatha, who operates an eatery at Muhandiram’s Road, Kollupitiya told the Sunday Times that he is often on the move looking for gas because he needs four gas cylinders every day.
“On Thursday, I stayed several hours in line. I was about to buy a cylinder, but then they closed the shop, although they had stocks. Later, I found they were selling for a higher price the next day,” he said. Rising costs have prompted him to reduce his staff of 25 to five.
He said most workers had complained of unbearable expenses of living in Colombo and returned to their villages.
Another owner of two eateries, Rishni Gunathilake said that even though sales increased due to the gas shortage, keeping up with demand is not easy because there is no cooking gas.
She said that her expenditure had increased as she had bought eight gas cylinders this month.
“Normally, I use four gas cylinders per month, but I realised that there is a shortage of gas, so I bought four more cylinders. I was able to keep my eateries open,” she said.
But, she said that if the gas shortage continues, she would have to shut down the eateries and this would badly affect 10 employees.
The two gas suppliers have also claimed they do not have US dollars to pay for shipments.
One senior official of a gas company cited the forex issue for the gas shortage.
He said that every day he calls all the banks to remind them of the applications that they have sent to open letters of credits.
The chief executive of the other company was unavailable for comment.
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