7 September 2021 02:14 am Views - 265
By Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera
Claiming that the state of emergency was declared not militarise the country as claimed by some factions, Agricultural Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage said yesterday it was solely done for the provision of essential goods at a concessionary price.
He told Parliament that the Government attempted during the last month to control the escalating prices of essential goods by using the Consumer Affairs Authority Act, which was not powerful enough and needed amendment to it.
“The CAA Act is not powerful enough. The fine for selling essential goods more than the control price was Rs. 2,500. We have presented an amendment to the CAA Act in Parliament today to increase the fine between Rs. 100,000 to Rs. 2 million. It takes at least three months to pass this amendment as it should go to the Attorney General, then to the Cabinet and Parliament for approval,” he said.
The Minister said if the President wanted to militarise the country, he could have suppressed some 847 protests carried out recently amidst Covid pandemic and added that the President did not use a state of emergency to control those protests.
“The President did not order tear-gas or water cannons at any of the protests for the last one and a half years. He could have used a state of emergency to control those protests. Protesters in New Zealand were attacked with pepper powder. The President declared a state of emergency for the well-being of the people,” he said.
Minister Aluthgamage said only a handful of businessmen engaged in the rice and sugar mafia were manipulating the market. “Those in the rice mafia are earning an income of Rs. 50 billion for one season,” he said.