Parliament has been postponed until August 04 following a tense situation which arose within the chamber during a vote on the Gazette issued by the government declaring the storage, transport and distribution of petroleum as an essential service.
A heated exchange between MPs representing the government and the opposition broke as a vote was taken today on the provisions related to the Essential Public Services Act.
Amidst the uproar, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya postponed the Parliament until the next session, which falls on August 4, 2017.
Following a strike launched by the trade unions of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), which resulted in major inconveniences to the public, the government declared storage, transport and distribution of petroleum as an essential service through a gazette under the Essential Public Services Act on Wednesday (26).
