Hundreds of Sri Lankans marched on Wednesday to call for the government to either end a severe fuel shortage at the root of the island nation’s worst economic crisis in decades or resign. Among those marching were doctors and bankers.
Nine people were killed and about 300 were injured during weeks of public protests about escalating problems like power outages and shortages of food and medicine, which culminated to a change in administration last month.
As fresh imports were still at least two weeks away and there was only enough gasoline for approximately a week, the government on Tuesday cut off supply to critical services like railroads, buses, and the healthcare industry for two weeks.
While Lanka IOC, an affiliate of Indian Oil Corporation, anticipates receiving a shipment of gasoline and diesel around July 13, the prime minister’s office stated in a statement that a government-ordered gasoline shipment will arrive on July 22.
‘Additionally, the administration is working to arrange early fuel supply. However, the information would not be made public until those were confirmed, the declaration read.
Despite being classified as essential employees, doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals claim they still struggle to obtain enough gas to get to work.
According to H.M. Mediwatta, secretary of the All Island Nurses Union, one of Sri Lanka’s largest nursing unions, ‘This is an impossible situation; the government has to give us a solution.’
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