Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2017-11-14

Report of the Cabinet Sub-Committee appointed to examine the shortage of Petrol that prevailed in the country in the first week of November 2017

- Hon. (Dr.) Sarath Amunugama, the Minister of Special Assignments, presented the report of the Cabinet Sub-Committee appointed under his chairmanship to examine the shortage of petrol which had prevailed in the country during the first week of November 2017 causing a hindrance to the day to day activities of the General Public and the causes which led to such a shortage, to identify the parties responsible for the situation and the measures to be adopted to avoid recurrence of such situations in the future.

Accordingly, it has been identified that the sudden shortage of petrol has been caused due to the long run deficiency that prevailed in the Petroleum Stock Management System and it has been recommended that it is appropriate to appoint a Board of Inquiry comprising of three technically qualified officers to identify the officers who are directly responsible for the situation and obtain a Report. Recommendations have also been made in the Report to install additional fuel storage facilities and adopt modern stock control management system in order to avoid recurrence of such situations in the future. As such, the approval of the Cabinet has been granted to pursue action as recommended by the said report.