RADHICA DE SILVA
radhica.sookraj@guardian.co.tt
As citizens get ready for next week’s hike in fuel prices, president of the Petroleum Dealers’ Cooperative, Derek Joseph, has advised that people should not attempt to store fuel in their homes, as this poses a fire risk and a threat to children.
Speaking to Guardian Media on Wednesday, Joseph said while some may think it will save them money if they store fuel before the price hike takes effect, this kind of thinking is foolhardy and could result in problems.
“It is not advisable to stock fuel. There is no reason to do that, especially for people who have children. You don’t want that around and a child drinks it in error. Or you do not want it to be stored in such a way to cause a fire. One should not do that. How many gallons of fuel you will stock up on? It doesn’t make sense and will not result in any savings,” he said.
He also called on people not to panic-buy fuel this weekend.
Joseph, who is also the executive public relations officer of the Petroleum Dealers’ Association, said there is no contingency plan in place for the weekend, as they expected the usual lines that occurrbefore a gas hike.
“There is no preparation and everything remains the same but the price will be different. Normally when there is a price increase, people will line up but it doesn’t make much of a difference. The fact is people will pay more for gas and it will cost the dealer more to buy gas because there is no shift in his margin,” Joseph said.
He said he did not expect any problems as people already had their favourite gas stations and were already prepared for the increase.
Joseph also urged people not to panic-buy, saying, “Price increases are not confined to T&T alone, it is not something that the government has full control over. Prices of everything in the world are increasing because of different things happening now including COVID and the war in Ukraine, the change in technology which has caused a shift in prices because of this.”
Asked what could buffer the social-economic fallout, Joseph said people have to change their attitude towards work and productivity.
“We have to understand that the types of businesses we operate must change. We must also change the model of business we operate so we can function in this changing world,” he said.
He added, “We have lots of resources that are not unused in the area of agriculture and agro-processing. We have to get back into that.”
Meanwhile, retired Fire Station Officer Keith Seebaran took to Facebook to urge the population to refrain from stockpiling fuel at home.
“The vapours are very flammable and any ignition source could ignite it, putting family and house at risk. Where will you store it? Under a step or in a room? This is dangerous. Why buy gas and put it down. It’s only a dollar extra per litre,” he added.
Seebaran, who had 29 years of experience in the Fire Service before his retirement, said he got information that people in his community were thinking of storing fuel and he felt it was important to strongly caution the community against doing this.
Fuel prices are set to go up from next Tuesday, the same day that all students return to physical classes.
