The Ashanti Regional Security Council (REGSEC) has ordered the closure of three gas filling stations in Kumasi as a result of their inability to meet operational requirements as mandated by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA). They are Paradise, Natony and Next Bons Gas Filling stations. Mr Emmanuel Asamoah Owusu-Ansah, Ashanti Regional Minister and Chairman of the REGSEC, said this at REGSEC's meeting with owners and operators of gas filling stations in Kumasi on Monday. The meeting was called following last Friday's explosion at the Engas Filling Station at Asokwa that left scores of people injured. The order, he said, was based upon recommendations by officials of the NPA after their tour of the scene of the disaster and some gas filling stations to acquaint themselves with the level of adherence to safety regulations by these stations and whether or not they were properly sited. Mr Owusu-Ansah said owners of these filling stations would be arrested and prosecuted if they flouted the REGSEC's directive. He said REGSEC, in collaboration with the NPA, had started a tour of all gas filling stations in the metropolis and warned that stations that did not have operational licenses would be closed down. The Regional Minister appealed to operators who had been ordered to submit their documents to the REGSEC for scrutiny to do so in their own interest and said "those who fail to co-operate with REGSEC would have themselves to blame". Source: GNA