Arjuna’s ire when plans to hoard oil was thwarted
Petroleum Minister Arjuna Ranatunga only stopped short of getting atop the Sapugaskanda oil storage tanks on Wednesday to trumpet his proud boast of how he had stumbled upon a massive corruption scam at his own ministry which had cost the Government a staggering loss of Rs. ten million.
And he vowed that no stone will be unturned till he drills to the dregs of his ministerial staff and unearths the culprits who had committed this unpardonable crime of the century against the people of Lanka.
And what is the big scam about? Arjuna Ranatunga stated that Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminal (CPSTL) has lost around 10 million on May 10, when the Government announced that fuel prices would be increased at midnight.
His complaint was that some of his officials’ strict instructions not to release stocks of fuel to the market that day but to keep it hoarded till the following day when the Government could cash in on the increased amount.
Unfortunately for him and fortunately for the general public, some of these officials ignored the instructions and issued the fuel to the petrol stations. That one respite enabled hundreds of three wheeler drivers to help make a saving to pay for the increase in the prices of milk, potatoes, big onions and coconuts. Small savings no doubt, but still big money for them who toil on the roads morning noon and night to keep the wolf from their doors. Not to forget, of course, those who move in shirt and tie in their 20 or 30 million bucks luxury limos to make a quick killing on the advance notice received via their iPhones, who queued for hours to save 1k.
Not too long ago, it was the practice of the kade mudalalies at the corner shops to hoard food and fags when they learnt that the government was to increase prices by midnight gazette. They were condemned by successive governments and cursed by the people for the foul practice, exploiting the situation to earn a fast buck.
Funny, isn’t it, to find the former cricket captain Ranatunga, whose bulging belly oft proceeded his reputation, losing his famous cool and hitting the roof in anger when he found orders to hoard fuel until the price was right in the same manner of the kade mudalalie had gone disregarded.
What’s the difference between a retail trader hoarding goods and creating an artificial shortage of cigarettes and a government hoarding the lifeblood of the nation’s economy – oil. Merely to make a fast buck out of a national crisis?
Is that cricket? The way the flannelled fools of today play the gentleman’s game of yore?