Consumers queued again on Monday for domestic gas across parts of Sri Lanka, while Litro Gas said the shortage should be overcome within two days.
Hiru reporters described people still waiting in long lines in Colombo, Nugegoda and Galle, among other areas, with households in several districts going without cooking gas, Hiru News reported.
What Litro says
Channa Gunawardana, Chairman and Chief Executive of Litro Gas Terminal Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, told the Daily Mirror the shortage is expected to be overcome within the next two days as LPG shipments arrive. The company is currently distributing about 80,000 cylinders a day, the Daily Mirror reported.
Four LPG vessels carrying 15,600 metric tonnes between them docked from 18 October to 1 November: Francois on 18 October, Corinthian on 22 October, Goodwill on 24 October and Quarantine on 1 November — each with 3,900 tonnes.
Litro says it can release roughly three million domestic cylinders during November, including commercial supply. Both outlets carry that figure. It follows the 44,000 tonnes ordered for November reported last week; the tonnage already landed and the monthly order are separate measures, not competing ones.
Enforcement
Shortages have brought hoarding with them. The Kandy Magistrate’s Court has fined a trader who told a customer no cylinders were available while holding 28 in stock, and ordered all 28 forfeited to the State, the Daily Mirror reported.
The raid on D.D. Gurusinghe Trading, an authorised Litro outlet on Kotugodella Street, followed consumer complaints. A Consumer Affairs Authority officer from the Kandy District Office posed as a customer on 29 October and was refused a 12.5 kg cylinder; officers then searched the premises and found the 28 cylinders. Section 16(a) of the Consumer Affairs Authority Act No. 9 of 2003 bars traders from falsely claiming goods are unavailable when they hold them for sale.
It follows a warning to dealers over hoarding issued a day earlier.
Also on Monday
Hiru noted that fuel prices other than kerosene rose from midnight on Sunday under the monthly pricing formula — a Ceylon Petroleum Corporation revision already reported.
Not reported
Neither filing gives the size of the shortfall, the number of outlets without stock, or how the daily 80,000 cylinders compares with normal demand. Litro’s two-day estimate is the company’s own and is not independently assessed. The amount of the Kandy fine is not stated. Hiru attributes the 44,000-tonne order and the three-million-cylinder capacity to “the company” without naming it; the Daily Mirror attributes the latter to Litro.
