Withdraw defective gas cylinders to prevent blasts, JVP tells govt.

By Saman Indrajith

The JVP yesterday urged the government to order relevant authorities to immediately withdraw gas cylinders from the households and the market to prevent more explosions.

Participating in the Committee Stage debate on Expenditure of Ports and Shipping Ministry, JVP MP Vijitha Herath said that the appointment of committees to analyse the issue would not be enough to solve the grave problem.

“Every family is scared of using gas cylinders these days. The government may appoint a presidential committee to look into the problem, but the submission of the report of that committee will take two weeks. After that the report will be analysed and steps will be taken to resolve the issue. This whole process will take at least one whole month. By that time, many disasters will take place and that is why an immediate intervention of authorities is necessary.”

MP Herath said that defective gas cylinders were still being sold in the market and people are using them. These cylinders should be withdrawn and provide people with alternative ones as an immediate measure. A gas company has accepted that the composition of butane and propane in a certain batch of cylinders was changed in July.

“When we queried about this in the House, the subject minister said no such thing had been done. But now it has been revealed that the gas composition was changed. According to the experts when the propane percentage is increased, the pressure of a cylinder will go up. There are questions about the quality of equipment like regulators when such a change occurs. Finding answers for these questions will take time. Until then, steps should be taken to provide alternatives for affected people as an immediate measure.”