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Filling stations forced to bribe CPSTL for fuel: Petroleum Trade Unions’ Confederation

01 Jun 2022

  • Unions claim fuel distribution mired in corruption
BY Buddhika Samaraweera The Petroleum Trade Unions’ Confederation (PTUC) has charged that even the limited amount of fuel received by Sri Lanka has not been distributed properly – leading to shortages and queues – as a result of fuel filling station owners having to pay bribes to obtain fuel for their filling stations. Speaking to The Morning yesterday (31 May), PTUC Convener Ananda Palitha claimed: “The fuel distribution process has become extremely corrupt. At present, filling station owners claim that they have to pay bribes to certain officers in the transport and distribution divisions of the Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminals Ltd. (CPTSL) in order to procure fuel for filling stations. Factory owners have also alleged that they have to pay bribes to obtain fuel.”  He added that the authorities including the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) have not taken any action regarding the matter, and that even the limited amount of fuel that the country has received over the past few days has not been properly distributed due to such irregularities.  Therefore, he added, no matter how much fuel is received in the future it would not be possible to avoid the fuel shortage due to the lack of a proper system for distributing them.  “The fuel is distributed by the CPTSL. Some in its transportation and distribution divisions solicit bribes to issue fuel orders. However, it is the CPC that deals with filling stations islandwide. So if the CPC cannot intervene and resolve these issues, what is the point of maintaining it?  “The CPC and the CPTSL have two Chairmen and 14 Directors. They do not formulate a mechanism to distribute fuel in a fair manner; instead, they are only interested in increasing prices,” claimed Palitha. CPC Chairman Sumith Wijesinghe was not available for comment. Meanwhile, claiming that employees of certain filling stations are demanding bribes to issue fuel to buses, the Lanka Private Bus Owners’ Association (LPBOA) warned last week that it would cease the operation of buses after the General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level Examination, if the authorities do not take action to prevent such incidents.


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