LPG filling points at fuel stations pose serious threat – trade unionist

Convenor of the Samagi Joint Trade Union Alliance, Ananda Palitha, yesterday (16) said that the government should initiate immediate action to identify fuel stations where domestic gas cylinders are sold, and industrial gas cylinders are filled in violation of safety regulations.

Palitha, who represents the SJB, said that successive governments had allowed the dangerous practice of storing LPG at fuel filling stations.

The trade unionist urged the National People’s Power (NPP) government to take remedial measures without delay as the recent accidental blast at Laugfs Gas point, operated alongside the fuel station managed by Lanka Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), at Wehera, on the Kurunegala-Colombo main road, underscored the danger in the practice.

“The blast claimed the lives of four persons – two Laugfs employees and two workers of a private company, situated on the Puttalam-Kurunegala road, who brought in several industrial gas cylinders to be filled at the Wehera filling station,” Palitha said, adding that four others received injuries and were rushed to the Kurunegala Hospital.

Responding to another query, Palitha said that there had never been such an incident at a fuel station/gas filling station before, though the government allowed this dangerous practice. According to Palitha, the blast and fire that happened on the night of 07 April, close to midnight, could have claimed more lives if the accident had occurred a few hours before, when the place was crowded.

Palitha claimed that inquiries made by him revealed that both the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) and the Kurunegala Municipal Council had approved the operation of the fuel station and the gas filling station together, regardless of the potential for a major conflagration, through an accident.

The PUCSL (Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka) should be empowered to look into the issue at hand, Palitha said. Against the backdrop of the Wehera blast, the government should move fast to bring the petroleum sector, too, under PUCSL. The former UNP trade union leader pointed out that the PUCSL, that had been established by the Public Utilities Commission Act No. 35 of 2002, was yet to be fully implemented.

Information Officer of PUCSL Jayanath Herat said that the PUCSL is the economic, technical and safety regulator of the electricity industry. “The PUCSL has been designated as the regulator for petroleum and water services industries. However, the Parliament is yet to pass the respective Acts to regulate petroleum and water industries. Pending Parliament’s authorisation, the Secretary to the Energy Ministry exercises the regulatory powers.”

Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody didn’t answer his cell phone. Palitha said that the Parliament owed an explanation as to why petroleum and water industries couldn’t have been brought under the regulator for over two decades after the enactment of that particular piece of legislation.

Palitha said that it took Parliament seven years to grant regulatory powers to PUCSL in respect of power in terms of the Sri Lanka Electricity Act No. 20 of 2009.

If the Kurunegala fire brigade failed to bring the situation under control, the fire could have spread to the IOC fuel station, Palitha said. It would be interesting to know what the reaction of the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd as the Lanka IOC is a subsidiary of the Indian oil giant. Alleging that the Energy Ministry had been silent on the issue at hand, Palitha said that whether adequate compensation would be paid to those who perished in the blast followed by fire and to those who suffered injuries.

The Energy Ministry, and those who operated the gas filling point, couldn’t absolve themselves of the responsibility for the lives lost.

The Island

contacted the Lanka IOC for an explanation regarding the incident. Having explained the circumstances their fuel station and the gas filling station were located together, a senior spokesman said that authorities were inquiring into the matter. According to him, the Wehera operation had been going on for quite some time.

Energy Secretary Prof. Udayanga Hemapala said that the Ministry was in the process of introducing a new Act to bring the petroleum sector under the PUCSL. “We should be able to secure the parliamentary approval within about three months, Prof. Hemapala said, declaring that the Cabinet-of-Ministers approved the move.

Pointing out that the blast and the fire happened at the gas filling station, Prof. Hemapala said that the Energy Ministry couldn’t inquire into the matter as that subject came under the purview of the Finance Ministry.

Asked whether he was aware of the operation of fuel stations and gas filling stations together in other parts of the country, Prof. Hemapala replied in the affirmative. The Energy Secretary acknowledged that such operations were contrary to the basic safety standards that should be in place.

By Shamindra Ferdinando