Government will take legal action if rice not sold at controlled prices: President

Colombo, November 04 (Daily Mirror)- Claiming that the government had held discussions with rice millers on the prices of rice, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said today that legal action will be taken against those who fail to sell rice at the controlled prices.

Speaking at an election rally in Moneragala, he said the government had no way of controlling rice prices as the previous government had not purchased paddy at all.

He said the government had only two options to control the rice prices, either by releasing paddy stocks of the government or by imposing laws, adding that the government could only take legal action now as the government does not have any paddy stocks.

The President said the government will take action to prevent such a situation in the future and added that all measures have already been taken to purchase paddy by the government during the next Maha season.

He said the Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) and the Food Commissioner's Department have been instructed to refurbish all their paddy storages so as to purchase paddy during the Maha season.

"We have made plans to purchase paddy and supply rice to the market. We will provide the paddy stocks purchased by the government to the small-scale rice millers to mill and provide us rice. Then, the rice stocks will be supplied to the consumers through the cooperative stores chain," he said.