News
Human kindness and racketeers’ wickedness intersect at fuel sheds
Kilometres-long fuel queues have brought out the human kindness in motorists waiting in hope for days and nights to top up their tanks, with food and drinks being shared among them. But there are also stories about racketeers taking them for a ride.
Beware of racketeers at fuel sheds, police warn. Recently at Bandaragama, two racketeers were arrested for selling 60 litres of diesel-mixed water for Rs. 24,000, claiming it was pure diesel.
Bandaragama’s Chief Police Inspector R.C. Rajapaksha said they received complaints from two motorists – a lorry driver and van driver, after they were sold counterfeit fuel in three containers. Fortunately, they became suspicious and detected the forgery before they poured it into the tanks.
The inspector said that after this incident police officers at fuel sheds warned motorists and pump attendants of such rackets and urged them not to buy fuel sold by outsiders.
Later, the racketeers were arrested following a tip-off from alert motorists.
The two suspects, aged 29 and 32, are from Horana and Galle. They were found with two plastic cans filled with water mixed with diesel which stayed on top. They were produced in the Pandura Magistrate court and remanded.
There were also instances of fuel station employees taking money from motorists seeking information on the time and type of fuel the shed was scheduled to receive.
At a Kirulapone shed, an employee had sought Rs 500 from a motorist to tell him whether a fuel bowser was scheduled to come to the shed. Motorists also say that by paying a few hundred rupees to the pump attendant they could pump more petrol than the Rs. 8,000 limit.
As motorists wait days and nights in fuel queues, flocking to them are vendors selling cool drinks, bottles of water and other food items.
In fuel queues in Colombo, lorry and truck drivers appeared to have come prepared for the long-wait. They carry mats, blankets and pillows. There is also the camaraderie between truck drivers. They buy liquor and have a good time until the queue starts moving.
A lorry driver told the Sunday Times he brought Rs 10,000 to buy diesel, but now he had been left with Rs. 6,000 after spent Rs. 4,000 on liquour and food while waiting in the queue.
Another lorry driver, Jayasekaran Chandrasekaran, who had been in the queue at the union place shed for six days said: “My whole life is spent in this lorry. I eat, sleep and stay in the lorry. I have not had decent sleep in days as I am having cramps sleeping in the same position.”
When asked about how he got his meals, he said he had to spend the money given to him by his employer to buy food and drinks. On some occasions, he got food from other drivers in the queue.
Mr Chandarasekaran said he had not visited his family in Ratnapura for weeks.
Three-wheel driver Karupaiyya Mohomad (58) said he had been in the Union Place shed queue for three days. He said he had visited several sheds in search of petrol for six days before he finally decided to settle for the Union Place fuel queue.
“Luckily people are kind enough to provide me with food. I even got water from offices nearby. As I do not want to bother other people, I bought food from the part of the money which I have brought to buy fuel,” he said.
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