Responding to a statement of Joint Opposition MP Dinesh Gunawardena made under section 23 (2) of the standing orders Prime Minister said: “Last night I discussed this with the President. The security council agreed to hold an investigation before giving a stamen. A separate committee was appointed. One life lost and many were wounded in addition to the property damage. This is not the first time such event happened in Sri Lanka. Some foreigners died from the explosion happened in the East in 2010. Kosgama Salawa army camp was the former ply wood factory, which was handed over to military when I was a Minister long years ago. The same place was used as ammunition dump. None of us know the reason for the incident for sure but it will be investigated.”
Promising to remove unsafe ammo dumps from public areas and to rebuild the destroyed property at state expense he said: “Allocating large amounts of money to construct the Defence Ministry deprived the former Government from making suitable storage facilities for weapons and ammunition. We will have to find place to rebuild concrete bunkers in less populated areas. Reopening of the roads will have to wait till tomorrow as more explosions are expected. We have established 15 camps to house 1,800 people displaced from this incident. They were given dry rations, water and other essential items. Army has also started providing cooked meals to many of the displaced. Army will take some time to inspect the houses and other public property located within a radius of 500 meters from the camp. We have already started taking a stock of the property damage. We have instructed the Water Board to start distributing water using bowsers. Electricity restoration and road reconstruction is underway. Government will reconstruct the houses and buildings. We saw many trying to take advantage from this devastation.”
Requesting state attention and urgent action MP Gunawardena said: “Kosgama Salawa army camp faced the most serious devastation reported in the recent times. This shows the inability to effectively manage an army camp without effecting the public life. The explosions destroyed public property at large. Airborne ammunition and parts of weapons destroyed public property in a wide circle as far as Poogoda. This devastation also includes some of the villages which was effected during the recent rains and floods. Government should take action to reconstruct the public property, restore water, electricity and telecommunication in the area. Most importantly the Government should conduct an investigation and the report should be published. It is a shame the Army Commander was unable to do an explanation. We only received an explanation from the Secretary of Defence yesterday. The devastation costs the country seriously.” AH
