The government will cancel permits of filling stations which misuse the kerosene subsidy meant for the poor, Petroleum Resources Development Minister Arjuna Ranathunga said yesterday.
He said the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) had revealed that the some of the petrol filling stations mix kerosene with petrol or diesel and provide them to buses and lorries. He added that some buses and lorries run on kerosene all along. He said that the addition of kerosene is made outside filling stations in fuel bowsers.This is illegal and has caused an artificial increase in kerosene requirement.
"Due to the misuse, the loss caused to the government during the first two months of this year had increased to Rs 2.1 billion," Minister Ranathunga said. "So the government is taking measures to take stern action against these errant traders by cancelling the filling station permits.We are also seeking possibilities of taking over such petrol stations,"he said.
"Kerosene is mostly used by the poor and the government grants a subsidy of Rs 48 per litre. He added that kerosene consumption was 138,505 kilo litres in 2014 and it had increased to 198,090 kilo litres in 2017. He added that according to the developments taking place, the use of kerosene should be reduced and this increase was artificial. "The loss the CPC incurred in 2017 due to the increase in kerosene use was Rs 5.4 billion.
The Minister said the use of kerosene incurred a loss to the government, causes environment pollution and damages vehicles causing loss to the owner as well as to the country.
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