Namal Karunaratne on government's attempts to import rice

Colombo (News 1st): The prices of rice in the market were discussed at a media briefing convened by the All Ceylon Farmers' Federation. National Organizer of the Federation Namal Karunaratne noted that they are aware that the government is attempting to import rice. He added that Minister Anura Yapa yesterday spoke to him and gathered information about stocks of rice. Karunaratne said the country only needs 3.6 million metric tonnes of rice every year and they produce between 4.5 to 5 million metric tonnes of paddy. Therefore, he said that there is still about 1.5 million tonnes of paddy in the country. He stressed that the government must find this paddy. Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Rice Producers' Cooperative Society Muditha Perera noted that on Monday this week the President travelled to Polonnaruwa to visit the people who were affected by the floods. He said when his (President's) helicopter landed in the field it was the people involved in this rice mafia that welcomed him from the helicopter and escorted him.

"So you can understand now, during the previous regime allegations were leveled against Dudley Sirisena, the brother of the former President Maithripala Sirisena. They said that it was Dudley Sirisena who was heading this rice mafia. Now it has been almost two months since Maithripala Sirisena left office but the government of Gotabaya Rajapaksa cannot even control the prices of rice as much as the previous administration did."