No rice available in market at gazetted price: Harsha

Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Parliamentarian Dr. Harsha de Silva yesterday claimed that despite a record paddy harvest, the Government had failed to introduce a proper mechanism to bring the price of rice under control.

Although the Government issued a fifth gazette on Wednesday (4) to control the price of rice, he said the actual retail price of samba rice in the market was around Rs. 125 per kilogram (kg) and the actual retail price of nadu rice was between Rs. 105-110 per kg. Meanwhile, the actual retail price of keeri samba rice is between Rs. 140-150 per kg and the actual retail price of raw rice is between Rs. 100-110 per kg.

According to the latest gazette, maximum price of white/red samba is Rs. 94 per kg, maximum price of white/red raw samba is Rs. 94 per kg, white/red nadu is Rs. 92 per kg and white/red raw rice is Rs. 89 per kg.

“This is the price at which the rice producer must sell to the wholesaler,” he said, issuing a statement yesterday.

Dr. de Silva said the Government should realise that it was difficult to implement the market mechanism by gazetting. 

“The consumer could not find rice in the market subject to the maximum price limits mentioned in all the four previous gazette notifications. In the same way, no one will be able to eat rice in the future if they wait for the Maximum Retail Prices (MRP) for rice to be as per the Government’s gazette,” he claimed.

In order to be competitive in the local rice market, he suggested that another group must be empowered to provide good competition to the ‘rice mafia’.

“The best group for this is the small- and medium-scale paddy mill owners in the country. This group has always been a threat to the rice mafia. If they become strong, they too will come to the market and buy paddy shoulder to shoulder. Then, the rice mafia will not be able to hide enough and buy stocks of paddy. When these small- and medium-scale paddy mill owners compete in the market, the rice mafia will not be able to set the prices they want,” he pointed out.

The SJB MP charged that the Government disregarded his suggestion to continue with the ‘Shakthi’ rice business, which he initiated as the Minister of Economic Affairs and Public Supplies during the previous administration.

“I encouraged the Government to continue the program in order to give the rice mafia good competition, but they didn’t heed my advice. Now the rice consumer has to pay for the arbitrary damage caused by the Government,” he claimed.