People’s curiosity and questions with regard to the actual cause behind gas leak explosions would be answered and appeased when the results of an undisclosed investigation would be made public soon, Chief Government Whip and Highways Minister Johnston Fernando said yesterday.
Speaking at a ceremony held at the Kurunegala Maliyadeva Girls’ School to declare open a three-storeyed building for the students, the Minister said that the investigation had been prompted by the serious doubts whether there were hands of saboteurs behind the incidents of explosions.
“There is a very serious suspicion of these so-called gas leak explosions. There were incidents from many places. However, there were no such incidents reported from the houses in Colombo 7, Northern Province, Kandy, or Kurunegala. After many ministers had raised these doubts and concerns the President commenced an investigation which was not disclosed to the general public. Its results will be made public soon and thereafter we will know the truth,” the Minister said.
He said that apart from the so-called gas leak explosions and shortage of gas there are several other burning issues to which the government’s attention was drawn.
There are shortages and resultant price increases. We try our level best to bring down the prices and replenish the stocks to avoid scarcities. Apart from those temporary problems, there are many other issues caused by the pandemic. It was the school children who had to suffer the worst because of the pandemic since they lost their school time. Many who engaged in sports, aesthetics, and other extra-curricular activities too had lost many opportunities.
The teachers and principals had been urging the government to solve their salary anomaly problem. That problem now has been solved. There had been many forces to make use of that problem for their political gain. They even instigated the teachers to take to the streets. Those saboteurs’ political parties however did not vote for the budget that allocated money to solve the teachers’ salary issue,” the Minister said. (NewsWire)