CPC halts issuance of fuel to portable containers till 15 April

The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) yesterday announced that fuel will not be pumped into canisters, barrels and other portable containers at its filling stations from 12 to 14 April.

“A decision has been taken to suspend issuing fuel to portable containers, as a preliminary step following no scheduled power cuts in the country for three days,” CPC Chairman Sumith Wijesinghe told journalists yesterday.

He also pointed out that they have devised a system to issue fuel in a manner that does not hinder the work of a large number of farmers engaged in agriculture during the three-days.  

“Fuel required for vehicles used for agricultural purposes can be obtained from filling stations, if they can submit a letter certified by the Agricultural Research Officer or Grama Niladhari (GN) officer of the area,” he explained.

The CPC Chief said recently a large number of people had obtained fuel in portable containers and that therefore a request was made to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to intervene in this matter.  “On Sunday, over 10,000 litres of such unnecessarily and illegally hoarded fuel was seized by the Police from several places,” Wijesinghe revealed.