Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Co-operative Development Minister Wasantha Samarasinghe told Parliament yesterday that action will be taken to sell 200,000 kilograms of rice daily to the public through the ‘Lanka Sathosa’, at a controlled price of Rs.220 per kilo to the public from today.
The Minister also said that steps will be taken to provide a coconut to the people in the suburban areas through Lanka Sathosa at a price of Rs.130 a nut within the next two weeks. He said this while participating in the debate on the government’s policy statement presented by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake recently.
The Minister also said that rice mill owners have agreed to release 200,000 kilos of rice per day to be sold through Lanka Sathosa at a price of Rs.220 per kilo.
The Minister also said that considering the current demand for rice in the local market and the damage caused to paddy cultivation due to heavy rains, the rice import restrictions have been lifted until midnight on December 20. The Minister also stated that the Government has taken steps to provide solutions to this problem by making rice available in the market as a solution to the rice shortage that has arisen in the market. Steps have been taken to solve the coconut shortage in the market in the next two to three weeks and to prevent consumers from exploiting. For this, 1 million coconuts will be released to the market.
In the past, various individuals and institutions have intervened to create shortages of goods in the country. We are trying to resolve this problem through discussions with those individuals and organisations. Otherwise, we will take specific measures as a government to prevent the people from being inconvenienced and exploiting,” he said.
