Sri Lanka may face fuel shortage as strike continues

COLOMBO - Sri Lanka may face fuel shortages in the coming days as the petroleum sector trade unions vowed to continue their strike after politicians threatened to take action against the protesting employees.

Asoka Ranwala of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) said Saturday the strike will continue because a group backed by two politicians threatened its employees of harsh action if they continue their strike, which started Friday over the delay in salary hike, Xinhua reported.

Union leaders said their fuel distribution work will be limited to essential services such as hospitals, military, police and state transport.

“We were about to settle their demand for wage increase when this unwanted incident happened,” Petroleum Minister A.H.M. Fowzie said referring to their protest.

He said the government will take measures to ensure continuous fuel supply.