The government launched a special program to distribute rice in the Colombo and Gampaha districts today and tomorrow to made available the stocks without any shortage, officials said on Sunday.

The move comes as the speculation of rice shortage in the country and the Consumer Affairs Authority officials visited the large scale rice mills to see whether the mill owners hiding the rice stocks to create an artificial shortage in the country.

Badhrani Jayawardena secretary at the Ministry of Internal Trade, Food Security, and Consumer Welfare said that the program is continuing in the other districts as well.

The rice stocks are dispatched to Cooperative Societies or Samupakara, and thereby the stocks of rice will be distributed at regional levels, She further said.

Measures are underway to distribute stocks of rice through Lanka Sathosa outlets while measures are also underway to dispatch rice to private traders without any shortage, Jayawardena added.

The Ministry is in the process of converting paddy stocks and issuing rice to the market, Jayawardena further added.

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