NORTHERN SHAN STATE – The Petroleum Product Supervision and Inspection Department under the Junta Council announced on May 31, that filling stations in northern Shan State should not sell motor oil in buckets/barrels and not sell directly to other shops or factories.
He said that the head of the local administration has instructed them not to sell them in buckets/papers since yesterday, May 31st, as they were found Gasoline shops sell in plastic cups/barrels on trucks and motorbikes.
As for the generators, if it is mandatory to sell them, they should only be sold with the approval of the relevant ward administrator and if the purchased oil is moved and sold elsewhere, effective action will be taken, according to the directive.
“Most of the customers cannot buy outside the city, so big filling stations have to send them to sell in the city. Now that this letter has come out, I can no longer send it. Household generators also have a certificate of approval from the ward administrator, so the administrator can benefit from it,” said one of the gas station owners in Lashio.
A gas station employee from Hsipaw said that there have been requests for more money in the neighborhood to get the recommendation letter before, and now that this directive has been released, they will be asking for more money.
“The gold blocks are in trouble. In the past, it is used to pay about 20,000 for each of the gates. Now it will cost more, because it was instructed by higher-ups but the subordinates did not follow. It had created chance for more smuggling,” he said.
This kind of order is used in the central regions of Burma such as Monywa, Sagaing and Myitkyina areas since the previous years, and now it has come under control of northern Shan State, according to the motor oil business community.
Many said that this tightening of control is a restriction to prevent fuel from reaching the areas controlled by the ethnic armed groups and the revolutionary forces.