Failure feeds fuel crisis

Saturday 25th June, 2022

People continue to drop dead in fuel queues, which are getting longer by the day. The number of hours people spend in long lines to obtain fuel averages 48, we are told, and there have been reports of people spending four to five days at a stretch near some filling stations.

The only thing President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera are apparently capable of doing efficiently is jacking up fuel prices besides issuing grim warnings. A ship carrying petrol was to reach Colombo on Thursday but its arrival was delayed until Friday. If what Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said in Parliament, the other day, is any indication, then another massive fuel price hike is in the pipeline. So, it is only natural that people think the delivery of the petrol shipment was delayed purposely until the next price increase so that the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation could make a killing while people are dying in fuel queues.

Minister Wijesekera is all at sea with the management of the two vital sectors under his purview. He does not seem to be doing anything at all to manage the power and fuel crises. He only issues twitter messages, and says so little in so many words. The prevailing foreign currency crunch is the root cause of the fuel crisis. But no serious attempt has been made to manage the available fuel stocks. There’s the rub. Untold hardships people are facing could be mitigated to a considerable extent if fuel is properly rationed, and racketeers are kept at bay.

The odd-even rationing method is adopted in other parts of the world during fuel crises; it enables everyone to obtain a fixed amount of fuel every other day without languishing in endless queues. A rationing system must be simple and efficient for it to be effective and acceptable to the public.

Perhaps, there is more oil in cans and barrels than in fuel tanks of vehicles in this country. Most people stock up on diesel and petrol for personal use. Racketeers are hoarding fuel and selling it on the black market. They wait in queues, obtain fuel, empty it into cans, and then line up again near the same filling stations or elsewhere. The police are making a half-hearted attempt to nab fuel hoarders, and some of their raids have yielded barrels of fuel hidden in houses and business places. Raids must be stepped up. If attractive rewards are offered, people will readily provide information about the racketeers who sell fuel illegally at exorbitant prices.

The fuel crisis has had a crippling impact on all vital sectors. Hospitals, schools, and all other institutions, both public and private, are facing the threat of closure, but the government is trying band-aid solutions.

Thankfully, there have been no major incidents of violence for the past few weeks, but an eerie atmosphere has descended on the country, and it is like the calm before the storm. Last month’s spate of violence could be considered the first wave of a tsunami of public anger; we can see the signs of a second wave forming. There has been a let-up of sorts in protests recently and the government leaders seem to have been lulled into a false sense of security, as a result. Basil Rajapaksa is said to be trying to reorganise the SLPP. Other members of the Rajapaksa family have also crawled out of the woodwork; Namal was seen at a recent press briefing given by Minister Wijesekera, whom the Rajapaksa family has on a string. The government worthies who have incurred the wrath of the public never learn from their blunders. Let them be warned that the occurrence of the second tsunami wave of public indignation is only a matter of time, and its landfall will be far more devastating than the cumulative impact of previous social and political upheavals that shook the country.It is high time someone capable of strategic thinking was appointed the Minister of Power and Energy to defuse tension and prevent the country from being plunged into chaos.