Stern action to be taken against officials involved in electricity mafia!

Stern action would be taken against the officials if the CEB, Power and Energy Ministry and Public Utilities Commission who are found to be involved in the electricity mafia, while several new appointments are expected to be made replacing some of the current officials, the ‘Silumina’ newspaper revealed.

It is reported that investigations are underway regarding the massive scale frauds connected with the electricity mafia.

It has been revealed that the current power crisis has arisen where the consumers are deprived of continuous power supply due to the carelessness of the engineers and officials connected to the power sector and their focus on securing commissions and kickbacks for themselves.

Currently, a committee comprising Ministers Ravi Karunanayake, Kabir Hashim and Harsha de Silva have been appointed to inquire into the power crisis.

It has been reported to the President and the Prime Minister that the reason that the power crisis has arisen is the failure of the CEB engineers and ministry officials over the past four years to develop the power generation sector and prepare proper policies regarding power outages and having investigated this matter the President had severely reprimanded the CEB and PUCSL for their lapses.

The Prime Minister noted that the officials had failed to establish the LNG power stations given to us by Japan, China and India which has led to aggravation of the power crisis, adding that the relevant officials should take complete responsibility for this situation.

To be used in an emergency 50 generators were brought into the country on December 18, 2018 and of them 20 generators were established in Matugama, 20 in Kolonnawa and the other 10 in Thulhiriya, but the Matugama generators have not even been tested. Similarly, in Kolonnawa all ten power generators of stage one have not been operated and the other ten are non-operational as the fuel stocks had finished.

Even the power generators at Thulhiriya has not been commissioned. The current power requirement in the country is around 2600 MW and with the use of these generators this target could have been easily met. However, due to the tug-of-war between the engineers and the officials, the power crisis in the country has taken a turn for the worst, the Unions pointed out.