Report on Gas cylinder ‘explosions’ due this week: State Minister Alagiyawanna

 A full report of the investigations on gas cylinder explosions conducted by the Moratuwa University will be made available this week, Minister of Cooperative Services, Marketing Development and Consumer Protection Lasantha Alagiyawanna told Parliament today (29).

Minister Alagiyawanna making a statement on the issue today said that since 2015 up to end of October 2021, there had been 233 incidents of explosions related to gas cylinders and the recent incidents were not unusual.

But former Power and Energy Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka pointed out that according to the statics given, the average monthly incidents were about 2.3 per cent, but in November alone the number of incidents reported are between seven to 10 per cent which was unusually high.

Mr Ranawaka said therefore it was clear that this was a situation which should be investigated immediately.

Samagi Jana Balawegaya MP Mujibar Rahuman tabled in Parliament documents in which it is confirmed that the composition in the cylinders had been changed.

However,  Mr Alagiyawanna said that so far there had been no standards set and the only standard set was far back in 1998 by the Sri Lanka Standards Institution, which was based on pressure inside the cylinder.

He said, however, recently they had advised and called for public proposals on the issue and they were in the process of preparing the standards. He said the expert committee was meeting today.

Meanwhile, he said 12 samples had been taken from different locations including Gampaha, Colombo, Kurunegala and Ratnapura and submitted to the Moratuwa University for investigations.

The State Minister said Prof Shantha Walpola of the Moratuwa University and team are currently carrying out investigations and the report will be submitted during the week.