Sri Lankan army deploys at fuel pumps to curb stocks amid crisis in Colombo
Apr 04, 2022
By Ashoke Raj
Colombo [Sri Lanka], April 4 : Amid the ongoing unrest in Sri Lanka following the economic crisis, the Sri Lankan military has been deployed at the fuel pumps in Colombo to stop the stocking of fuel, petrol, and LPG gas.
In the Ernest de silva Maratha area in Colombo, Sri Lankan army personnel could be seen guarding the fuel pump that cannot stock any fuel, ANI reported from Colombo.
"We are here to stop stocking fuel for checks and to control the chaos," an army jawan told ANI without disclosing the name. Long queues can be seen at every fuel pump in Colombo since morning for diesel, the owner of a school van said, "We have been waiting for diesel for eight hours and are unable to get it."
Red Cross vans laden with large oil drums at the fuel pump are also queuing up for diesel supplies. Not only this, the fuel pump administration has informed the fuel pumps by messaging that, "Fuel will not be given in the drum".
In Colombo too, there are long queues in many parts of the city due to supply stagnation in the midst of the current economic crisis.
A consignment of 40,000 metric tons of diesel from India reached Sri Lanka on Saturday, the fourth such assistance from New Delhi to mitigate the spike in power cuts in the island nation, which is facing an unprecedented economic and energy crisis caused due to shortage of foreign exchange.
