News

There is no shortage of fuel in the country and the reason behind having long queues is due to rumours spreading on social media regarding a possible fuel price hike, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) Trade Union Collective said.

CPC Union Media Spokesman Bandula Saman Kumara told the Daily Mirror that due to rumours, people were seen gathered in long queues at filling stations.

"Due to refuelling vehicles other than on normal days, certain fuel stations ran out of their stock. So the filling stations had requested more fuel from the CPC. The CPC does not have the capacity to issue fuel other than the stocks they refine. The CPC refinery cannot refine fuel immediately to fulfil the ordered requirement. So the requested filling stations unable to receive their stocks on time,"he said.

The filling stations have placed more fresh order for fuel over and above the capacity they receive per day, he said.

Actually, there is no fuel shortage in the country and this is due to some unwanted phobia, he added.

The rumours spread via social media that there is a possibility of a fuel price hike, similar to the price increase of other commodities.

If an unusual volume of fuel is used in the country, the CPC will open another filling station to meet that demand. But so far, no such requirement has been made by any party.

A total of 23 more COVID-19 related deaths that occurred yesterday (17) were confirmed by the Director-General of Health Services today pushing the death toll to 13,507.

According to the Government Information Department, 13 females and 10 males are among the deceased.

A total of 21 people who are above 60 years of age are among the deceased while 02 of them are between 30 and 59 years of age.

Lanka IOC has decided to increase the price of Octane 92 Petrol and Auto Diesel with effect from midnight today (21).

Accordingly, the price of Octane 92 Petrol has been increased Rs. 05 per litre while Auto Diesel has also been increased by Rs. 05 per litre.

LIOC said it has increased its Retail Selling prices for both Diesel (Lanka Auto Diesel) and Petrol (LP 92) by Rs 5/Ltr each due to huge losses on sales of both the products.

However, the prices of Lanka Super Diesel and LP 95 have been kept unchanged. The losses are around Rs. 40/ltr on sale of Diesel and Rs. 20/ltr on sale of Petrol at the current international prices, the company said issuing a statement today.

LIOC said the last price revision took place on 12th June 2021. However, since then the Brent crude oil prices have increased from $72/barrel to $86/barrel in the international market.

The recent unprecedented rise in international oil prices has breached the 7-year highs, it said. As on date the international price of Gasoil 500ppm is $ 95.62/barrel and Gasoline92 is $ 99.37/barrel.

LIOC said it has been left with no other option but to increase the prices of Petrol and Diesel as the quantum of losses have become unbearable. They also informed that they have increased the prices to the minimum, taking into consideration of its impact on the industry and people at large.

Managing Director LIOC, Mr Manoj Gupta informed that although losses are very high, presently the company has increased the prices to the barest minimum.

Lanka IOC is only public limited energy company and accountable to its more than 10,500 local shareholders. Such continuous losses on indefinite period shall have a very detrimental effect on the financials of the company and its ability to invest to provide value added services to its customers, the company said.

It said that the Selling price of Petrol and Diesel in the country remains significantly low as compared to the prices prevailing in the neighboring countries and that the prices of Petrol and Diesel need to be in line with the prices prevailing in the international market.

“However, even after this price increase in Diesel and Petrol, LIOC will still have to bear significant losses at prevailing international prices for which they have been requesting to Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Energy to take necessary steps to provide relief to the organization.”

The head of Sri Lanka’s Catholic Church His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, and Venerable Elle Gunawansa Thero filed a Fundamental Rights Application with the Supreme Court seeking an order to prevent the transfers of shares of the Yugadanavi Power Plant to New Fortress Inc.

In addition, the FR application seeks an order to prevent the government from awarding the LNG supply contract to New Fortress Inc.

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Cabinet of Ministers, Cabinet Secretary, Finance Secretary, the Attorney General among 54 others were named as respondents in the application.

New Fortress Inc. was also named as a respondent in the application.

The FR application seeks to make null the decision reached by the Cabinet of Ministers on the said agreement on the 6th of September and prevent the agreement from being enforced until the examination of the application is concluded.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has directed relevant authorities to continue ongoing interprovincial travel restrictions until 4.00 a.m. on October 31 (Sunday), says the Commander of Sri Lanka Army, General Shavendra Silva.

Sri Lanka lifted the island-wide quarantine curfew, which was in effect for over a month in a bid to curb the pandemic situation, on October 01 as the country started seeing a considerable drop in the number of daily COVID-19 cases and deaths reported.

The interprovincial travel restrictions however remained in effect despite the relaxation of the quarantine curfew.

A week later, the constraints imposed on crossing provincial borders were further extended until October 21. However, it was again decided that the restrictions would remain in place until the end of the month.

The Director General of Health Services has confirmed another twelve Covid-19 related deaths for October 16, increasing the death toll in Sri Lanka due to the virus to 13,484.

According to the figures released by the Govt. Information Department, the deaths confirmed today include 08 males and 04 females.

Three of them, including a female, are between the ages 30-59 years while the remaining nine are aged 60 years and above.

The banning of the import and use of chemical fertiliser at the same time was mistakenly made, revealed Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture Udith K. Jayasinghe, justifying that this had happened due to the wrong instructions given in this regard.

He added that neither the President nor the Agriculture Minister is responsible for the decision.

The Ministerial Secretary went on justifying that the persons advising the Minister and the government regarding agriculture should have given instructions in a manner by which the farming community is systematically discouraged to use chemical fertiliser thereby driving them to adapt organic farming, instead of banning chemical fertiliser via gazette declarations.

Had the gazettes been issued on permitting the import and the use of environmentally friendly plant nutrients, the situation in the country would have gotten much better, Jayasinghe emphasised.

The Agriculture Secretary further stated that the President’s Vision for Prosperity promised the systematic reduction of the use of chemical fertiliser in the objective of introducing high quality plant nutrients to a culture that caters to agrochemicals. As a person who contributed to formulating the manifesto, Jayasinghe said that he is very well aware of the President’s intent.

The intent, however, has wrongly been communicated to the society due to the inaccurate advice of the advisors, the Secretary went on, adding that the President has held discussions on the current situation with the ministers, researchers and administrators and that the crisis will be resolved.

Jayasinghe also pointed out that an account of high quality bio fertiliser should be adapted instead of toxic fertiliser.

LNW

Hundreds of fishermen in the Northern Province engaged in a protest today (17) against the forcible encroaching on Sri Lankan waters by their Indian counterparts.

Ada Derana reporter said that around one hundred fishing boats set out to sea from Mullaitivu to Point Pedro to engage in the protest, hoisting black flags with “#SaveOurFishermen” written on them.

The protest had been organized to demand that authorities to put an end to the illegal encroachment by Indian fishing trawlers in Sri Lankan territorial waters and also against the attacks on Sri Lankan fishermen and the damaging of their fishing nets by Indian fishers.

The protesters say that fishermen in the Northern Province are facing serious issues due to no permanent solution being provided for this long-standing Indian fishermen issue.

Representatives of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) including MPs M.A. Sumanthiran and Shanakiyan Rasamanickam also participated in the protest campaign.

In a video posted on his twitter account, Shanakiyan said that the protest is against the inaction by Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda to resolve the issue.

He accused the minister of “standing idly by” while Indian fishermen enter into Sri Lankan waters and engage in illegal fishing and other practices.

A total of 18 more COVID-19 related deaths that occurred yesterday (18) were confirmed by the Director-General of Health Services today pushing the death toll to 13,525.

According to the Government Information Department, 09 females and 09 males are among the deceased.

A total of 11 people who are above 60 years of age are among the deceased while 06 of them are between 30 and 59 years of age.

One death has occured below the age of 30.

Sri Lanka has sought a $500 million credit line from India to pay for its crude oil purchases amid a severe foreign exchange crisis in the island nation.

The move came few days after energy minister Udaya Gammanpila warned that the current availability of fuel in the island nation can be guaranteed only till next January.

The state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) owes nearly $3.3 billion to the two main government banks -- Bank of Ceylon and People's Bank.

The state oil distributors imports crude from the Middle East and refined products from other areas, including Singapore.

“We are currently engaged with the Indian High Commission here to obtain the facility ($500 credit line) under the India-Sri Lanka economic partnership arrangement," CPC Chairman Sumith Wijesinghe was quoted as saying by a local news website.

He said the facility would be utilised for purchasing petrol and diesel requirements.

The energy secretaries of both India and Lanka are expected to sign an agreement for the loan soon, the report quoted Finance Secretary S R Attygalle as saying.

The government has put on hold the expected retail price hike of fuel despite the last week's increase in cooking gas and other essentials.

The price hike in the global oil prices has forced Lanka to spend more on oil imports this year. The country's oil bill has jumped 41.5 per cent to $2 billion in the first seven months of this year, compared to last year.

Lanka is facing a severe foreign exchange crisis after the pandemic hit the nation's earnings from tourism and remittances, Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa had said last month.

The country's Its GDP contracted by a record 3.6 per cent in 2020 and its foreign exchange reserves plunged by over a half in one year through July to just $2.8 billion. This has led to a 9 per cent depreciation of the Sri Lankan rupee against the dollar over the past one year, making imports more expensive.

(Times of India)

The Cabinet has given approval to amend existing laws and regulations applicable to ban cattle slaughter in Sri Lanka and to table them in the Parliament, says the Government Information Department.

This was announced at the weekly cabinet news briefing today (19).

Approval of the Cabinet of Ministers was granted on September 28, 2020, to prohibit cattle slaughter in order to increase local agriculture and local milk production and to amend the laws and regulations applicable to it.

Further, it gave the green light to amend by-laws passed by local government institutions in relation to cattle slaughter.

Accordingly, the legal draftsman has drafted bills to amend the following acts/ordinances:

• Authority 272 of the Cattle Slaughter Ordinance No. 09 of 1893

• Animal Act. No. 29 of 1958

• Authority 252 of Municipal Councils Ordinance

• Authority 255 of Urban Councils Ordinance

• Pradeshiya Sabha Ordinance No. 15 of 1987

The Attorney General has certified that the said bills are not inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution.

Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers granted the approval to the consolidated resolution tabled by the Prime Minister – in his capacity as the Minister of Public Services, Provincial Councils and Local Government – and Minister of Agriculture to publish these bills in the government gazette as notifications and thereby table in Parliament.

The total number of people, who died of COVID-19 infection in Sri Lanka, moved up as 20 more fatalities were confirmed by the Director-General of Health Services on Thursday (October 14).

The new development has pushed the official death toll from the virus outbreak in the country to 13,449.

The latest victims include 11 males and 09 females, the Department of Government Information said.

According to official data, 14 deaths were reported among elderly people aged above 60 years. In addition, 05 people aged between 30-59 years and one female below the age of 30 have also succumbed to the virus infection.