India on Monday mentioned it has delivered round 40,000 metric tonnes of petrol to Sri Lanka, days after supplying 40,000 metric tonnes of diesel beneath the Indian credit score line to assist ease the acute gasoline scarcity within the debt-ridden island nation which is grappling with its worst financial disaster.
India prolonged an extra USD 500 million credit score line to Sri Lanka final month to assist the neighbouring nation import gasoline because it has been struggling to pay for imports after its international change reserves plummeted sharply in current instances, inflicting a devaluation of its foreign money and spiralling inflation.
“Commitment delivered!! Around 40000 MT of petrol under Indian assistance reached Colombo today,” the Indian High Commission right here mentioned in a tweet.
India on Saturday supplied one other 40,000 metric tonnes of diesel to Sri Lanka beneath the credit score line facility.
The Sri Lankan authorities has requested its non-essential workers to remain at house as a result of petrol and diesel scarcity. Lawmakers have requested the Parliament Speaker to present them lodging in resorts as they can’t attain parliament from their properties within the absence of transport gasoline.
A extreme scarcity of international reserves has led to lengthy queues for gasoline, cooking fuel and different necessities whereas energy cuts and hovering meals costs have heaped distress on the individuals.
In a tragic incident, a two-day-old child died on Sunday because of her father’s incapacity to search out petrol to take her to hospital from the central hill space of Haldummullla within the district of Badulla.
The child was discovered to be present process a yellow discoloration of her pores and skin. Her father was unable to discover a car to take her to the hospital as a result of present gasoline shortages skilled within the nation.
Dr Janaka Pathirana, the judicial medical officer on the Diyathalawa hospital, mentioned it was a preventable demise.
The Sri Lankan authorities has warned that it’s going to droop the supply of gasoline if transporters are threatened, after an offended mob torched a petroleum pump proprietor’s home within the nation’s North Central Province.
Spontaneous protests have been reported on the filling stations throughout the nation the place shoppers have been ready in lengthy serpentine queues for gasoline for hours on finish.
Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera mentioned if the general public continues to threaten the truckers delivering the gasoline, then the federal government should droop gasoline deliveries for the protection of the transport workforce.
“It has been reported that organised groups are preventing fuel trucks to pass certain areas demanding they be unloaded at different fuel stations and threatening to set fire to them. If this continues, we will have to suspend deliveries for the safety of the transport workforce,” he tweeted on Friday.
An Indian credit score line for gasoline has been in operation since February as Sri Lanka was unable to pay for gasoline imports as a result of foreign exchange disaster.
Earlier, India delivered 40,000 metric tonnes of diesel to Sri Lanka on April 2. This was India’s fourth consignment of gasoline delivered to Sri Lanka beneath the Line of Credit. India and Sri Lanka signed a USD 500 million Line of Credit Agreement for buy of petroleum merchandise on February 2, 2022.
With the financial disaster and the scarcity of foreign exchange, the Indian credit score line of USD 500 million for gasoline imports has supplied a lifeline to the island nation, which is at present going via the worst financial disaster since independence in 1948.
The financial disaster has additionally triggered a political disaster in Sri Lanka and a requirement for the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
The disaster pressured Mahinda Rajapaksa, the elder brother of the president, to resign because the prime minister on May 9.
Source: www.financialexpress.com”