Verbal clash between rice mill owners; say rice mafia not created by Araliya

A verbal clash between the owners of the New Rathna Rice Mill and Araliya Rice Mill erupted during a media briefing that Rathna Rice mills not agreeing to release Nadu rice to the market under the government imposed controlled price.

During the media briefing, the Araliya Group and the Rice Millers Association's Dudley Sirisena said that all large-scale rice mills should produce their rice varieties for the market under the government-controlled price.

Rathna Rice Mill owner L. J. Mithrapala said that all of them in the country should work according to the common law of the land. But we turn to government in a situation where we could not work according to the given regulations. He said a special price should be given to farmers without considering the government  imposed price for paddy to encourage them to gain more harvest and to protect the farmers.

In the current market, there is no demand for Keeri Samba rice but for Nadu variety. Therefore, we requested a ceiling of Rs. 245 for one kilogram of Nadu rice. 

When Rathna Rice Mill owner said that a kilogram of Keeri Samba paddy was cheaper than Nadu paddy variety in the market, the verbal clash between the main rice mill giants began.

During the incident, president of the Rice Millers' Association, Dudley Sirisena, told the media that they could not continue with this media briefing, if the discussion is aimed at raising rice prices, and he walked off from the discussion table. He told the Rathna Rice Mill owner too to stay away from the briefing.

Sirisena stated that rice should be released into the market at a fixed price. He said that all rice millers were trying to increase the price of rice in the market. 

He pointed out that the rice mafia was created by the other large-scale rice millers but not by him. "I am always trying to release rice to the market at a lower price," Sirisena added.

Finally, all mill owners assured that they will supply rice to the market at the government imposed controlled price. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)

Pix by Nimalsiri Edirisinghe