• The fine for overpricing is only Rs.2,000 today
• We will amend the Consumer Affairs Authority Act to increase it to Rs. 200,000

In a further move to contain the unwarranted spikes of rice prices in the market by errant rice millers, the Cabinet endorsed a proposal to enact a new piece of legislation to increase fines for overpricing, a Minister said yesterday.  

Trade Minister Bandula Gunawardane told Daily Mirror that the rice millers had jacked up prices exorbitantly inconveniencing the general public already battered by the pandemic.  

He said the fine for overpricing is only Rs.2,000 today.  

“We will amend the Consumer Affairs Authority Act to increase it to Rs. 200,000. Today the fine is not deterrent enough. There are instances in which mill owners dole out money for traders to pay for fines,” he said.  

Today, the rice price is as high as Rs. 200 for Keeri Samba variety. Samba rice is sold at Rs. 140 and Nadu variety at Rs.130 or Rs.120 per Kilo.  

• There are instances in which mill owners dole out money for traders to pay for fines