UNP to launch “public movement against alliance curse.”
by Zacki Jabbar
Rupees 2.3 billion has been squandered on importing sub standard petrol, but nearly two months later the government was yet to commence a proper investigation into the fiasco, the UNP said yesterday.
General Secretary of the UNP Tissa Attanayake, addressing a news conference in Colombo, said that tax payers’ money had been wasted due to gross negligence on the part of the authorities, but Petroleum Resources Development Minister Susil Premajayanth was still refusing to accept the blame.
It was now nearly two months since many vehicles were damaged as a result of using contaminated petrol that the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation had released to the market, but no proper investigation has been carried out to ascertain how Rs.2.3 billion had been paid for contaminated fuel, he said.
Attanayake said that the public is entitled to know why the stock of petrol in question, of which the greater percentage was rejected by the Kolonnawa Refinery laboratory, was released to the market.
Commencing August, the UNP would launch the ‘public movement against the alliance curse”, he said.
Attanayake said that countrywide protests will be held between August and September to highlight the Rajapaksa regime’s economic mismanagement, the high cost of living, absence of the rule of law and stifling of media freedom.
Meanwhile, the UNP yesterday handed over a motion to the Speaker of Parliament to appoint Parliamentary Select Committees to probe the infamous oil hedging deal and import of sub standard petrol, causing losses running into millions of dollars.