The economy of Sri Lanka is currently at high risk due to the gas crisis. Litro Gas Lanka company, which supplies about 75% of the market, has stopped importing gas due to the personal intervention and influence of Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanna. The tourism industry, the hotel industry, and the restaurant industry have come to a complete standstill due to this issue. Not only the tile industry and the biscuit industry but also gas-powered agricultural products have been suspended. Gas supply to hospitals has been completely stopped. All cooking processes that take place at households have been interrupted due to this gas crisis. This is not an accident. It is a collective effort by a group of politically influential people and ministers like Lasantha Alagiyawanna, Bandula Gunawardena as well as government officials who are greedy for money who hope to capture this gas market in the long run.

The only purpose of this gang is to destroy Litro Gas. With that single objective in mind, not only is it now creating a gas shortage in Sri Lanka, but also it is now in the final stages of the process of completely destroying the gas market and subjugating this company to another group, which is their underlying objective.

Litro gas ships that were imported to Sri Lanka have anchored off the Muthurajawela coast from December 11th till this moment, paying late fees. Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanna has unjustifiably stopped the supply of gas to Litro Gas Lanka despite the shortage of gas that had taken place islandwide. The detailed event is as follows;

Litro Gas Lanka has imported the Tanker named Balta which is 3199 tons on the 11th of December and on the 13th of December PGC PERIKLIS Tanker which is 3906 tons to its buoy at Kerawalapitiya to supply gas for the daily needs. The Consumer Authority, which has never made any inquiries on these things earlier, has taken gas samples from these ships this time. The gas samples were given to the Petroleum Corporation’s laboratory (CPC) and to Intertek, which is operated by     Laugfs. Litro was very vigilant about the test reports. Otherwise, these conspirators could undoubtedly change those records. Despite various pressures, they eventually stated that the percentage of gas mixtures mentioned on the two ships would be suitable to send the gas cylinders to the market. Although Intertek delayed releasing the report following Laugfs’ request, they had to finally release them as CPC released its report. Its main compounds, Propane, and Butane are said to be suitable for the Sri Lankan market and the ethyl mercaptan units, which are controversial for gas odor, are said to be close to 19 in evaporation. Ethyl mercaptan is standardized to be the standard unit of 14 in Sri Lanka. We have attached that report to this article.

The Consumer Affairs Authority and Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanna did not accept these reports and allowed the wound to heal for several days. Undeterred, they released samples to Geo Chem, an international organization, saying they could not accept the two tests reports. The report submitted by the company stated that the composition of propane and Butane is suitable for the Sri Lankan market and the Ethyl mercaptan value is high. However, Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanna, along with the Consumer Affairs Authority, did not give the necessary permission to unload gas from the mentioned tankers. Instead, they asked Litro Gas Lanka Company to return the tankers. Although Litro Gas Lanka informed the Consumer Affairs Authority about its reports and the quality of these gases, they had again sent these reports and samples to the Sri Lanka Standards Institution. However, the Sri Lanka Standards Institution has not issued any statement or a report in this regard to Litro Gas Company or any other company. But its head, Siddhika Senaratne, tells a strange story. She states that she personally ‘smells very little amount of the gas’ in these samples. Accordingly, it is questionable whether the unit of measurement of Ethyl mercaptan, which is debated regarding the smell of gas, is in the nose of Siddhika Senaratne.

The Consumer Affairs Authority and Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanna are still not given the opportunity to unload the stocks of gas imported by Litro Gas.

The Sri Lanka Standards Institution states that they have informed the Consumer Affairs Authority and Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanna about this. But they have not submitted any report on that. The two tankers of Litro Gas are still at the seas, wasting nearly a week’s late fees and wasting the national wealth of a state-owned company. It is now very clear what Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanna is preparing for. He wants to cut off Litro’s supply and hand over Litro Gas Lanka to a group of his colleagues who wants to take over the business. We mentioned earlier about the owner of Laugfs’ attempt to take over Litro. He continued to enlist the help of the present government and ministers Lasantha Alagiyawanna and Bandula Gunawardena to save Rs. 390,000 million in debt and relieve the burden of his reckless storage complex. Wegapitiya the owner of Laugfs Gas, says that if letters of credit are issued to him, Litro Gas will also be able to supply gas with the required mixture. But the irony is that he too has completely cut off his gas supply. Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanna and the conspirators want to stop the supply of gas to Litro Gas and put the company in the hands of Wegapitiya and the dealers.

The whole country is in a huge crisis today because of this gas issue. Large-scale businesses have almost collapsed. But the two gas tankers are still in the middle of the high seas. Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanna says gas is not good. He says the gas causes explosions. It is now very clear that he really wants to stop the operations of Litro Gas and fulfill the business needs of his colleagues even over corpses.

– Litro Surakeeme National Unity

Editor’s note –

We are ready to publish any reply sent by State Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanna or Minister of State Bandula Gunawardena or any other statement regarding the allegations leveled by the Litro Surakeeme National Unity without and editings respecting their right to reply.