Sri Lanka Government says it has deployed soldiers to filling stations across the country to intervene in the ongoing crisis caused by fuel scarcity.
Gatekeepers News reports that the government officials added that the soldiers would help to organise the distribution of petrol to residents in order to address the build-up of queues at filling stations.
Sri Lanka is said to be battling a foreign exchange crisis and this has led to the devaluation of its currency.
This development has also led to a rise in prices of essential commodities, affecting payments for essential imports such as food, medicine, and fuel, prompting the government to approach the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In the past few weeks, citizens of the country have been finding it difficult to access petrol with queues building up at pumps, leading to the death of at least two elderly people who were queueing for the commodity.
Officials said the decision to position troops at petrol stations came after the incidents.
Military Spokesperson, Nilantha Premaratne, told Reuters that “At least two army personnel will be deployed at every fuel pump,”
However, Premaratne noted that the soldiers would only help to organise distribution and would not be involved in crowd control.
Ramesh Pathirana, a government spokesperson, was also quoted as saying that the decision to deploy the military was in response to complaints of stockpiling and inefficient distribution.
Pathirana added, “The military has been deployed to help the public, not to curtail their human rights.”
