He said that a group of MPS who were recently stuck in an elevator in the parliament may be due to lack of maintenance.

He added that there is no need to remove elevators altogether, and he revealed to the Ravaya newspaper that there are a large number of spare parts that have already been purchased for the existing lifts.

However, it has been stated that the lifts are now 35 years old and the authorities have set aside Rs. 100 million to fix new elevators.

Parliament was informed that recent elevator shut was due to technical fault and but different quarters in the society allege that the reason for the failure boarding 12 people into the elevator that is only capable to carry 06.

Elevator accidents in Sri Lanka 

Generally, lifts have a history of about 150 years, and the possibility to collapse a lift to the basement with modern security systems is relatively low, according to the experts.

They say most of the accidents report with elevators when the door is closed, where parts of the body are clogged.

 There are a few fatal accidents reported in Sri Lanka due to elevators.

Of them, death of a lift operator at the Sahaspura housing scheme at Wanatha, Borella on the 18th of February 2018, death of a youth due to trampling between a wall and an elevator on the 14th of April 2018 and death of a rugby player at a club at the Nawam Mawatha, Colombo on the 29th of December 2018 due to collapse of a lift are major incidents. 

Quality Assurance

Meanwhile, Minister of Power and Energy Ravi Karunanayake has stated that a cabinet proposal will be brought to make checking the quality of elevators once a year to ensure security is compulsory and issue a certificate for respective elevators. The certificates will need to be displayed on the elevators. 

However, the Minister said that there is no tendency of further investigations on elevator accidents in the country.

 "We have confirmed that over 25,000 persons have been imported to Sri Lanka by inquiries from companies that imported lifts to Sri Lanka," he said, adding that a government agency and a private sector company will work together on lifts and their security in the future.

He added that if the relevant quality certificate for elevators is not available, then the owner of the building will be punished.