The government has rejected a request by the US embassy in Colombo for a special discussion with senior officials of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) with regard to the proposed revision of electricity tariffs, informed sources revealed.

It was reported that Ms. Allison V. Areias-Vogel, the Economic andCommercial Affairs Chief of the US Embassy in Colombo had written to the chairman of the Ceylon Electricity Board W B Ganegala and requested permission to discuss the matter with him. The Chief had also said she was anxious to discuss with Nihal Wickramasuriya, the general manager of the CEB matters pertaining to the refusal of the Petroleum Corporation to continue to issue fuel to the CEB on a deferred payment basis.

The chairman of the CEB had felt that this request was an interference in the internal matters of the government and sought instructions from his seniors, sources said.

The government had rejected the request and stated categorically that the proposed increase in electricity tariffs and issues confronting the Petroleum Corporation and the CEB were purely domestic matters and that the US embassy had no mandate to interfere in them.(Ranjith Ananda Jayasinghe)

Source: Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)