Twenty employees attached to the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation including several union leaders have been sent on compulsory leave for obstructing the operations relating to fuel distribution. Minister Kanchana Wijesekara said addressing a media briefing.
He said some belonged to the SLPP Trade Unions.
The Trade Unionists were agitating against the decision by the government to increase the number of players in the petroleum retail market by offering three more foreign companies to enter the local market.
The minister was optimistic that the distribution of petroleum products would be restored with normalcy returns with the new prices introduced from midnight today.
