The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) raised concerns about private sector fuel stations where domestic liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders are sold and industrial gas cylinders are filled, claiming that such storage is illegal.

Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (28), D.J.A.S. De S. Rajakaruna stated that the State-owned fuel stations do not allow the practice of storing and selling domestic and industrial gas cylinders. "Usually, we, the CPC fuel stations, don’t follow this practice. Yet, certain private sector fuel stations store everything together. It is illegal," he said.

He also said that the CPC does not have the capacity to regulate or intervene in the activities of non-state fuel stations, but that it is the responsibility of those institutions to ensure the safety of the public when storing gas. "Everyone has the responsibility of adhering to the safety measures. This is very risky," he said. However, he added that the fuel stations operated by the CPC do not engage in this practice at all.

Recently, the Samagi Joint Trade Union Alliance claimed that the Government should take immediate action to identify fuel stations where domestic gas cylinders are sold and industrial gas cylinders are filled in violation of the safety regulations. It also claimed that successive governments had allowed the dangerous practice of storing LPG at fuel filling stations.

These concerns were raised following a recent accidental and fatal blast at a Laugfs Gas point, operated alongside a fuel station managed by the Lanka Indian Oil Corporation at Wehera, on the Kurunegala-Colombo main road, highlighting the danger of this practice.