The Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminal taking measures to lay a 12-inch new pipeline, granted new homes to the illegal residents who continued to live near the pipeline that carried fuel from the Colombo Port to the Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminal, Kolonnawa.
As a first step, homes were granted to 20 residents, under the patronage of the Minister of Petroleum Resources Development, Arjuna Ranatunga and Parliamentarian Ravi Karunanayake, on Tuesday (23). The Minister said, even though there was a Court order to evict them, they have to act considering the welfare of these families. He agreed to give new homes to the rest of the residents too. “All of you lived on top of the pipeline. You lived on fire, if a fire broke out in the pipeline, it would be disastrous. The Court has issued an order to remove these people. If this had happened during the previous regime, they would kick you out overnight. But our government does not follow such procedure. We have taken steps to grant new homes for you, taking the wellbeing of your families into consideration,” the Minister added. “This pipeline is old, around 70 years. We can’t predict when it would leak and blast. We could not lay a new pipeline for 20 years. Now we can lay the pipeline without causing distress to the residents,” the Minister further added. Parliamentarian Ravi Karunanayake said, they will grant homes to the other 419 residents before the end of this year.