By Asiri Fernando The ongoing fuel shortage in Sri Lanka may take a turn for the worse, following the postponement of the Cabinet meeting scheduled for last evening (11), due to the absence of the President, The Morning learns. It is understood that Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera, through a letter dated 11 July, had sought the PM’s guidance on how to fulfil payment obligation for multiple shipments of diesel, petrol, fuel oil, and crude oil, for some of which the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) had made part advanced payments. In a move to avoid the crisis from worsening, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had tabled the letter sent to him by Minister Wijesekera at the Party Leaders’ meeting last afternoon. According to the paper, there were three Cabinet papers which had been submitted for approval for this week’s Cabinet meeting. This paper would have approved the sourcing of $ 128 million from capital markets by local banks in consultation with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and the Finance Ministry. When contacted by The Morning, Secretary to the Prime Minister Saman Ekanayake acknowledged that the PM had received a letter from the Energy Ministry seeking advice on sourcing funds needed to pay for multiple shipments of fuel en route to Sri Lanka. According to Ekanayake, the letter was taken up at the Party Leaders’ meeting, however he would not comment on the matter further. According to Minister of Justice Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, the PM had explained the crisis and the need to ensure the shipments were paid for and released to the market as the public and industry were at a standstill. The Prime Minister had requested the party leaders to give a commitment that any future government would approve of the sourcing of the $ 128 million needed to make the urgent payments for the inbound fuel to be unloaded. According to Rajapaksa, the Opposition politicians including the Opposition Leader had vigorously opposed the request and rejected it. The Morning learns that Opposition MPs had blamed the PM for bringing the issue to the meeting and for not resigning from his post. When reached, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP MA Sumanthiran confirmed that the PM had raised the matter at the meeting, stating that the forum was not the place for such decisions and that the responsibility was with the Cabinet of Ministers. “I told him (Wickremesinghe), ‘This is not the place to raise this matter. You ran and took the post (Prime Minister’s), you said you are here to rescue the country. If you don’t want to take the responsibility, then resign.’ We have been telling him to resign immediately. That matter (fuel payments) should be handled by the Cabinet. The Opposition Leader also told him the same thing,” Sumanthiran said. The Morning reliably learns that two shipments, one diesel and one petrol, from Singapore-based supplier Vitol – one scheduled to arrive between yesterday (11) and Friday (15) valued at $ 75.6 million and the other valued at $ 70.9 million scheduled to arrive between Friday (15) and next Tuesday (19) – have payments valued at $ 52.2 million and $ 49.6 million due to be paid by the end of today (12). Attempts to reach the Minister of Power and Energy, the Secretary to the Ministry, and the Chairman of the CPC on the fuel shipments and their payments failed.