Gammanpila denies meeting Indian Foreign Secy. over Trinco Oil Tank Farm

Claiming that there was no basis in the reports that plans were afoot to hand over the Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm to India, Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila said today that he did not meet the visiting Indian Foreign Secretary as claimed by some people.

He told Parliament that the Indian Foreign Secretary did not even seek a meeting with him during his visit to Sri Lanka.

"There is no basis in the reports that the Government is going to hand over the Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm to India. It is a bugbear which is spreading these days.," he said.

Responding to a question raised by SJB MP Hesha Vithanage, the Minister said all the 100 tanks in the Farm had already been handed over to India in 2003 and through the Indo-Lanka Agreement.

"According to the letter between J.R. Jayewardene and Rajiv Gandhi corresponding to the Indo-Lanka agreement, Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm can only be developed by India," he said.

He said he as the subject minister was making every effort for the last one and half years to bring the oil tanks to government's purview.(Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera)