Gammanpila puts to rest canards spread against govt by critics, vows to find oil and gas at last

BY CYRIL WIMALASURENDRE   

KANDY –

Minister Udaya Gammanpila has said in Kandy that his ambition is to bring Sri Lanka among the oil and gas producing countries of the world. Addressing the media floowing a meeting with the prelates of Malwatta and Asgiriya, Gammanpila, recently, said the presence of oil in the shores of Sri Lanka had been talked about for the past fifty years, but nothing practical had been done to discover it.

“Sri Lanka will be an oil producing country in the world shortly, The claim that government has shelved the 20th Amendment due to protests is a blatant lie. It is not something President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa have forced on the people. It was the people who asked for it, having seen the chaos the 19th Amendment had led to under the previous government. 

“Let’s see when the 20th Amendment is put to the vote whether the government has a two-thirds majority or not.”

The minister said so in response to a question a journalist asked him.

Minister Gammanpila paid homage to the Sacred Tooth Relic at the Sri Dalada Maligawa and called on the Most Venerable Tibbatuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala Mahanayake thera  of Malwatta and the Most Venerable Warakagoda Sri Gnanaratana Mahanayake Thera of Asgiriya.