Most people in the country do not know that the people of the north,
especially the people of Vavuniya, got fuel through the ration stamp
system during the war. But the true story is that the people of
Vavuniya have been meeting their fuel needs for many years with the
fuel ration stamp given to them by the government.
LTTE has to issue such a fuel stamp. In 1990, the organization unilaterally withdrew from the peace agreement and suddenly started the second Eelam war. At the time of the attack by the LTTE, thousands of Sinhala people were living in several villages of Vavuniya. Military and police officers were stationed in many camps as well as many police stations. Major General Denzil Kobbekaduwa, who was the commander of Vavuniya at that time, implemented a wonderful security plan at that time. He arranged to construct a security fence between Vavuniya and Padaviya area. In the southern part of this security fence there are Sinhala villages and security forces camps and in the northern part the LTTE. Members and Tiger camps were located.
By building the security fence, Mr. Kobbekaduwa hoped to reduce the attacks on Sinhala villages and military camps by hundreds of thousands of LTTE members. The plan was successful and after the construction of the security fence, massive attacks by the LTTE did not hit the area. However, with the construction of the security fence, the word "Forward Defense Line" or "FDL" came into use among the members of the security forces as well as among the people of the North. Also, the Sinhala villages near the forward defense line came to be known as border villages. Security bunkers were built at intervals of 100-200 meters within the security fence which was built for a length of one hundred (100) kilometers. Army and police guarded security bunkers day and night to prevent LTTE movement and supplies. In spite of how much protection there was, a small number of LTTE members had to move around in areas where security fences were not built, such as lake marshes. The army had banned the supply of diesel and petrol to the north of the defense line, i.e. the unliberated areas. Nevertheless, the organization started transporting fuel to their controlled areas using various tactics through certain places of the security line. The fuel purchased from Vavuniya petrol stations was thus transported to the tiger control areas. To prevent this situation, the supply of fuel to the gas stations in Vavuniya was restricted. Due to this restriction, fuel rarely arrived at filling stations in Vavuniya. There were long queues for fuel as seen today. The people suffered a lot there. Various organizations started requesting the government to provide solutions to the fuel problem. At that time, one of the main decision-makers in the administration of the North was the security forces. After a discussion between security forces and administrative officials to provide solutions to the fuel problem in Vavuniya, the method of providing fuel to the people of Vavuniya was introduced. In order to obtain fuel ration stamps, the basic qualification that a vehicle owner had to meet was that he must have the book issued by the Department of Motor Transport, valid income license and valid insurance certificate for his vehicle.
Then the concerned documents should be certified by the village officer of the area and the concerned local Lekmary. You should go to the Army Civilian Coordination Office with the documents certified by the government officials. The Civil Co-ordination Office of the 211 Brigade Headquarters was located in the vicinity of Vavuniya town at a place called 'Ramya Mansha'.
Fuel ration stamps will be given when the documents are handed over to the officials on duty at the place. A motorcycle gets 15 liters of petrol per month and 25 liters per month for three-wheelers and cars. These stamps were available in 1 liter and 2 litre. If there are people who need fuel in addition to the usual amount, they can get more stamps by proving the reasons for getting more fuel.
At that time, two army soldiers were compulsorily deployed at the petrol station in Vavuniya. One was sitting near the cashier's desk and the other soldier was on duty near the pumper. After the customer gives the stamps to the soldier near the cashier, the cashier is informed to write a bill for the amount of fuel equal to the value of the stamps.
The relevant paid bill should be given to the soldier near the pump. The pumper gives the customer the amount of fuel the soldier says. In this system, there were no unnecessary fuel queues. They could get their fuel ration freely. There was no misuse of fuel. This is because the fuel reserve at the filling station was taken by the army in the morning and evening and at the end of the day there should have been ration stamps equal to the amount of fuel issued.
Also everyone took income permits and government certificates on time as they had to get the ration stamp. the LTTE. The fuel ration received was quite sufficient due to the restricted areas and travel due to threats. There were also cases of asking a friend for a loan and settling the transaction with the next month's ration if suddenly or when the stamps ran out. This fuel ration stamp system was in effect until the signing of the ceasefire agreement with the LTTE in 2002. After that, a fuel rationing system was implemented in the north in 2006 in the Jaffna Peninsula. In August 2006, the LTTE attacked the Muhamalei military post. After the attack, land links between the Jaffna Peninsula and government controlled areas were cut. There, a fuel coupon system was introduced to the people of Jaffna to distribute the limited amount of fuel brought by sea.
The fuel coupon system operated in Jaffna until the end of the war in 2009. In addition to this, during the two decades of the war, various legal systems were introduced to provide fuel to various professionals including fishermen as well as people in the Northern Province. From that point of view, it is correct to say that lessons can be learned from the Northern Province on how to deal with the distribution of limited fuel reserves.
From Lankadeepa 2022 July 2nd Google Translation
I thank Prabath Manjula for bringing this News Item in the Sinhala Media to my attention.
I contacted my cousin Lt Col. Anil Amarasekera (Rtd.) and he said
During my military service period in Vavuniya I was the Civil Affairs Officer from January 1989 to October 1990 and the Commanding Officer of the 2nd Battalion of the Vijayabahu Infantry Regiment from October 1990 to June 1992. I was next appointed as the Officer Commanding Troops in Anuradhapura for a short period but returned to be stationed in Vavuniya as the Officer in Charge of Manpower Mobilization and Disaster Relief for both Vavuniya and Anuradhapura Districts. I asked for a Release from Service Without Pay in December 1995 to work against the devolution proposals of the then government. Therefore I am aware of what took place in Vavuniya from 1989 to 1995.
The Forward Defence line (FDL) was established in 1990 and much of this FDL came under my command. The Ramya House mentioned in this article was my office when I was the Civil Affairs Officer from 1989 to 1990. We had no fuel rationing or coupon system during this time but there were many restricted items that were not allowed to be taken beyond the FDL to the LTTE controlled area and fuel was one such restricted item. Lorries that took food items to the LTTE controlled areas used to be inspected at checkpoints and allowed to proceed beyond Vavuniya. Each lorry was allowed to carry adequate fuel for it to proceed to its destination and return.
Fuel was freely available for sale in all Vavuniya petrol sheds and if any fuel coupons had to be issued during the period January 1989 to October 1990 the issuing authority would have been myself as the Civil Affairs Officer stationed at Ramya House. I did issue permits for even unrestricted items that were being taken to the LTTE controlled area but when I found out that there was much corruption taking place as a result of this permit system, I spoke to the Brigade Commander Brigadier Sathes Jayasundera and cancelled the permit system.
Therefore most of what is written in this article, may have taken place after I left Vavuniya in 1995.