News
CEB engineers pump diesel into their vehicles from Kelanitissa stores
No queue travail for the lucky few
By Ifham Nizam
While many other state-sector professionals including medical specialists and other health workers are spending days and nights in fuel queues, engineers of the Ceylon Electricity Board are not feeling the pinch thanks to the government giving priority to supplying fuel for power generation, a senior Power and Energy Ministry official said.
Despite everyone else undergoing untold hardships trying to find fuel, CEB engineers have been happily tapping into the large diesel stocks at the Kelanitissa power plant to top up their fuel tanks, we reliably learn.
An official said: “Ironically, CEB has no rupees to pay CPC even when the Treasury scrapes the bottom of the barrel to find the dollars to pay for fuel imports. Therefore, CEB is forced to get short-term loans from commercial banks at exorbitant interest rates, generally above 30%, to pay for its fuel and monthly salaries and generous allowances of its employees.”
Several CEB employees contacted by The Island including veteran trade unionist Ranjan Jayalal were of the view that it is criminal for the CEB to use diesel supplied by the government for power generation to pump fuel into engineers’ vehicles.
Such supplies are often made at the cost of depriving other critical needs such as public transport, school vans, and the haulage fleet bringing daily essentials like fish and vegetables to urban centers. But some of the power generation fuel is used to maintain the lifestyle of a set of privileged state employees.According to these CEB employees, long lines of CEB vehicles used by engineers have become a common sight at the Kelanitissa power station. These vehicles often carry barrels and other containers to take additional diesel supplies.
These employees complain that although diesel is issued from the Kelanitissa storage under the guise of supplying the essential needs of maintenance and breakdown vehicles, only a small fraction of that fuel is allocated to CEB’s field vehicles.The engineers in the meantime have an almost unrestricted supply of diesel for their official and private travel (sometimes including daily travel of their spouses), despite the people agonizing in long fuel queues all over the country.
In fact, the CEB has been advising its customers that the time taken to attend to breakdown complaints will be longer because its maintenance vehicles cannot get sufficient fuel.
CEB engineers are allowed to commute between their homes and workplaces, subject to a maximum of 20 km each way plus additional private travel allowance ranging from 600-900 kilometers per month at board expense. But some engineers travel to Colombo daily from places like Wennappuwa, Negombo, Panadura, and even more distant places like Ratnapura. Apparently, the fuel shortage has not deterred these engineers from economizing on fuel use despite the current crisis thanks to diesel stocks at Kelanitissa intended for power generation.
It is understood that when the CEB General Manager recently announced that the private mileage allowance of engineers would be reduced by 50%, engineers protested vehemently. Many CEB employees question why this decision had angered the engineers so much when there is no fuel even to manage CEB’s day-to-day maintenance work in most areas.
It is also learnt that some CEB engineers who had been allocated petrol vehicles had quickly switched to diesel because of the ready availability of the fuel from the Kelanitissa storage facility.
Its employees complain that even the engineers attached to project work in the Project Division continue to clock the same mileage as before, although the project work has come to a standstill because of the foreign exchange shortage and the resulting shortage of essential materials like steel, cement as well as CEB’s inability to open LCs for essential imports of new equipment.
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Iran has sought the Indian intervention, at the highest level, to provide lifesaving support to the crews of empty Iranian vessels stranded just outside Sri Lanka’s 12-nautical mile territorial waters off Galle.
Sources familiar with the issue said that Iran had brought the developing situation to the attention of New Delhi as the crews of almost 20 vessels, included Indian nationals. Sources stressed that the group of vessels that unloaded crude oil a couple of months back were now stranded within Sri Lanka’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
The US Navy torpedoed an unarmed Iran frigate, returning from India, on 04 March, 2026, about 19 nautical miles off the Galle coast. The unprovoked attack killed nearly 100 Iranians.
The Iranian Embassy in Colombo has inquired from the Indian High Commission of their response to the situation, sources said. The US has issued a global warning against providing food, water, medicine and other services to the Iranian vessels. The outcome of Iran-India talks on the issue at hand was not known, though sources asserted India may not throw its weight behind Iranian efforts to address the issue.
Responding to The Island queries, sources said both Sri Lanka and India were in a dilemma due to the US warning. India couldn’t ignore the plight of the Indian crew members and the Iranian vessels in its backyard.
The Sri Lankan government remains tight-lipped about the vessels stranded in its EEZ. Our efforts to elicit a response from relevant authorities were in vain. In addition to Indians, there are Bangladeshis among the crew members. Iran has explicitly stated the responsibilities of the countries concerned to provide assistance in terms of international law.
The Iranian position was articulated by its Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Dr.Alireza Delkhosh, recently. In a special statement, Ambassador Delkhosh emphasised that in terms of the Convention on the Law of the Sea (Article 98) as well as SOLAS and SAR
Conventions, Sri Lanka couldn’t refrain from providing the needs of the Iranian vessels stranded in its EEZ.
SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem lambasted the NPP government in Parliament for failing to provide assistance to the Iranian ships. The former Minister alleged that the government was simply carrying out dictates of the US. He strongly criticised the way Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath was handling the issue.
MP Namal Rajapaksa, who is in remand custody over the controversial Airbus deal, was further remanded until October 27 by the Colombo Magistrate’s Court yesterday (13).
Colombo Chief Magistrate Asanga S. Bodaragama made the order after considering submissions by officers of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption and lawyers representing Rajapaksa.
Sri Lanka’s economy is expected to sustain its recovery over the next two years, although growth is projected to moderate amid mounting global uncertainties, according to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) latest World Economic Outlook.
In its World Economic Outlook 2026: Resilience Under Strain, Urgent Choices, the IMF projects Sri Lanka’s economy to expand by 4% in 2026, slowing to 3.7% in 2027, following estimated growth of 5% in 2025.
Inflation, meanwhile, is forecast to rise to 5.3% in 2026 and 5.4% in 2027, reversing the average deflation rate of 0.5% recorded in 2025.
Unemployment is expected to remain steady at 3.9% throughout the forecast period.
The projections come amid growing pressure on the global economy from the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, elevated energy prices, geopolitical tensions and trade disruptions.
Sri Lanka’s external position is also expected to weaken, with the current account balance projected to shift from a surplus of 1.6% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2025 to deficits of 0.5% in 2026 and 0.3% in 2027.
The IMF’s outlook points to continued economic expansion in Sri Lanka, but with slower growth, rising inflation and a narrowing external surplus giving way to current account deficits over the forecast period.
Heavy showers above 100 mm are likely at some places in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Central, and North-western provinces and in Anuradhapura district.
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IMF projects Lankan economic growth to moderate amidst mounting global uncertainties
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