India delivers 40,000 metric tons of petrol to Sri Lanka

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India delivers 40,000 metric tons of petrol to Sri Lanka

India delivered around 40,000 metric tons of petrol to Sri Lanka on Monday, after supplying 40,000 metric tons of diesel under the Indian credit line to help alleviate the fuel shortage in the island nation that is struggling with its worst economic crisis.

India extended an additional $500 million credit line to Sri Lanka last month to help the neighbouring country import fuel as it struggles to pay for imports after its foreign exchange reserves plummeted sharply in recent times, leading to a devaluation of its currency and spiralling inflation.

''Commitment delivered! The Indian High Commission here said about 40000 MT of petrol under Indian assistance reached Colombo today.

India has provided another 40,000 metric tons of diesel to Sri Lanka under the credit line facility.

The Sri Lankan government has asked its non-essential staff to stay at home due to the petrol and diesel shortage. The Speaker of the House has asked the Speaker to give them accommodation in hotels because they can't reach Parliament from their homes in the absence of transport fuel.

Long queues for fuel, cooking gas and other essentials have resulted in a severe shortage of foreign reserves, while power cuts and soaring food prices have heaped misery on the people.

A two-day old baby died on Sunday due to her father's inability to find petrol to take her to the hospital from the central hill area of Haldummullla in the Badulla district.

The baby was found to have been undergoing a yellow discoloration of her skin. Her father was unable to find a vehicle to take her to the hospital due to the current fuel shortages in the country.

Dr Janaka Pathirana, a judicial medical officer at the Diyathalawa hospital, said it was a preventable death.

The government of Sri Lanka has warned that it will suspend delivery of fuel if transporters are threatened, after an angry mob attacked a petrol pump owner's house in the country's North Central Province.

Spontaneous protests have been reported at filling stations across the country where consumers have been waiting in long serpentine queues for fuel for hours on end.

If the public continues to threaten the truckers delivering fuel, the government will have to suspend fuel deliveries to protect the safety of the transport workforce, according to the Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera.

It has been reported that organised groups are preventing fuel trucks from passing certain areas, demanding they be unloaded at different fuel stations and threatening to set fire to them. He said on Friday that if this continues, we will have to suspend deliveries for the safety of the transport workforce.

Since February, an Indian credit line for fuel has been in operation, as Sri Lanka was unable to pay for fuel imports due to the forex crisis.

India delivered 40,000 metric tons of diesel to Sri Lanka on April 2. This was India's fourth shipment of fuel delivered to Sri Lanka under the Line of Credit. India and Sri Lanka signed a USD 500 million Line of Credit Agreement for the purchase of petroleum products on February 2, 2022.

Since independence in 1948, the Indian credit line of USD 500 million for fuel imports has provided a lifeline to the island nation, which is currently going through the worst economic crisis since independence.

The economic crisis in Sri Lanka has resulted in a political crisis and a demand for the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The crisis forced Mahinda Rajapaksa, the elder brother of the president, to resign as prime minister on May 9.