Stern action against rice hoarders
[Monday, January 28, 2008 - 9.58 GMT]

The government will take tough action against rice traders hoarding rice stocks without releasing to the market, in order to stabilize the price of rice.

Raids will be conducted by the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) throughout the country to nab hoarders of rice.

The government declared rice is an 'essential commodity' under the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act with effect from January 23^rd.

The Consumer Affairs Authority gazetted rice as an essential commodity, giving powers to the Minister to take action against traders who hide rice stocks.

Meanwhile, the government assures that the distribution of rice, wheat flour and other essential commodity items is being carried out in the Jaffna peninsula without any interruption through public and private sector outlets.

It is expected that the price of rice would go down further with the coming harvest this year. The government has already allocated Rs. 200 million to introduce a program to make rice available at a concessionary price to the communities in plantation and neighbouring areas, in order to encourage them towards rice and rice flour consumption.

Following a meeting with rice importers, rice mill owners and wholesale dealers, President Mahinda Rajapaksa earlier instructed that additional imports of rice be made immediately to offset the high cost of rice in the local market and has also ordered the release of 19,000 metric tons of rice lying at government warehouses.