Kerosene oil price hike draws protests

The Government’s decision to increase Kerosene oil prices by Rs 253 per liter  has drawn in protests by low-income families and fishermen, but the Minister of Power and Energy is defending the move.

Fishermen, estate sector workers and low income groups in urban areas raised objections to the decision which came into effect from today. Accordingly a liter of Kerosene  oil will now sell at Rs 340 as against the previous price of Rs 87.

Minister Wijesekara in twitter message defended the increase.

“Kerosene price revision was a must for many years. One main reason for CPC losses was selling at subsidized prices”, he said.

“With prices now on par with costs the Govt has proposed a direct cash subsidy to low income families, fisheries & plantation sectors that depend on kerosene.”, he said. 

Timesonline learns that a subsidy is likely to be announced in the interim budget for the next four months due to be announced in early September. 

Minister Wijesekara earlier pointed out that private buses were widely using kerosene oil for their vehicles thereby adding to the losses of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation  (CPC). 

Meanwhile consumers claimed that despite the increase kerosene oil was not available and has been in short supply in the past few months.