New Delhi: Former Sri Lankan cricketer and world cup winner Roshan Mahanama has been offering tea and buns to the people struggling to get petrol in the crisis-hit country and forced to wait in long queues. In a tweet on June 18, Roshan Mahanama said Sri Lankans needed to look after each other in difficult times. Mahanama along with the team from Community Meal Share served people around Ward Place and Wijerama Mawatha. “The queues are getting longer by the day and there will be many health risks to people staying in queues,” he tweeted
Mahanama also urged citizens to look out for others standing in queues with them. “Bring adequate fluid and food and if you’re not well please, reach out to the closest person next to you and ask for support or call 1990,” he added.
Facing the worst economic crisis since independence in 1948, Sri Lanka is struggling to find a foreign exchange to pay for fuel imports. The country’s existing stock of petrol and diesel is projected to run out in a matter of days, reported Reuters.
The government mismanagement and the Covid-19 pandemic pushed the country of 22 million people into the deepest economic crisis. The public sector employees have been asked to work from home for two weeks. "Taking into consideration the severe limits on fuel supply, the weak public transport system, and the difficulty in using private vehicles this circular allows minimal staff to report to work from Monday," the Public Administration and Home Affairs Ministry said on Friday.
While those employees providing essential services like healthcare will continue to report for duty at their offices, the circular said. The situation has turned so bad that four out of five people have begun skipping meals, the United Nations said, AFP reported. The government has started handing out food vouchers to pregnant women in the capital Colombo.
The World Food Programme, UN's food assistance branch, is attempting to raise $60 million to fund a food relief effort for Sri Lanka between June and December.
The country is in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout package with a delegation expected in Colombo on Monday.