Cooking gas cylinders fiasco: Premadasa says independent investigation needed

COLOMBO: The Litro gas company stopped all testing required to check for gas leaks, and distributed the cylinders amongst the Public without the mandatory testing said Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Sajith Premadasa.

He made this statement while speaking at a Dhamma school opening in Meegahajandura.

“The Litro gas company which supplies 72% of gas in the country faced a problem from the 28th of October until the 12th of November as their supply could not meet the demand. That was due to the foreign reserves crisis in the country. It was around that time that the next consignment of gas was supposed to reach Sri Lanka as well. The action the Litro gas company resorted to was to stop the testing that was required to check gas leaks, and distributed the cylinders without checking,” said Premadasa.

“Nobody is speaking about this.”

He also said that Litro Gas company distributes around 85,000 cylinders into the market on a daily basis, and that his explanation was the root cause of the gas cylinder explosions in Sri Lanka.

“Litro gas company is responsible for this. They are operated under Sri Lanka insurance, which is under the government treasury and the Ministry of Finance. Therefore, the government is responsible for this as well. Is the government ensuring national security of the country by resorting to such things,” questioned Premadasa.

Premadasa then stated that an independent and un-bias investigation needs to be done into the gas cylinder explosions, and all those who were responsible for issuing sub-standard gas cylinders into the market should be brought to justice.