Saturday 9th November, 2024

Large-scale rice millers, wholesalers and retailers continue to flout consumer protection laws with impunity. All varieties of rice are sold above the maximum retail prices, and some of them are in short supply. The Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA), true to form, trots out various lame excuses for its inability to prevent hoarding and the exploitation of the public.

Successive governments have failed to serve the interests of consumers vis-à-vis the rice Mafia, which always has the last laugh. In fact, they have baulked at taking on the big-time millers and wholesalers despite their braggadocio.

The JVP-led NPP, too, came to power, making a host of promises, the prominent among them being its pledge to make the IMF bend to its will and renegotiate the ongoing bailout programme. The IMF is far from tamed, and, worse, the government has had to touch its forelock before the millers’ Mafia.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake himself has said a cartel of millers has created an artificial shortage of rice and jacked up prices. He has not only identified the problem properly but also threatened stringent action against the hoarders of rice, besides promising to ensure that the Paddy Marketing Board (PMD) will purchase more paddy and maintain buffer stocks to stabilise the prices of rice.

It is everyone’s fervent wish that President Dissanayake will be able to fulfil his promise to make rice, especially the varieties thereof consumed by the ordinary people, freely available at reasonable prices. However, the question is whether the state-owned warehouses have the capacity to hold enough paddy stocks to stabilise prices. One hopes that paddy will not be stored in airports again the way the Yahapalana government did.

What needs to be done urgently is to trace and confiscate the illegally hoarded rice. This however will be an uphill task, given the rice millers’ political connections and the fact that many politicians and their parties have benefited from the millers’ largesse.

Some CAA officials were recently seen on television visiting the warehouse complexes belonging to the members of the millers’ Mafia and asking questions. They should not be so naïve as to think the millers will tell them the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about paddy stocks. They must find out where the illegally hoarded paddy is kept and take legal action.

Whenever pressure mounts on the government in power to get tough with the large-scale millers, they float various stories to deflect the blame for rice shortages. An attempt is now being made in some quarters to lay the blame for the current shortage of ‘nadu’ rice solely at the feet of some brewers, who are accused of using rice to manufacture beer. This allegation must be probed, but investigations must continue to find out the stocks of rice held by the millers’ Mafia, which must not be allowed to get away with its illegal practices by claiming that the people cannot buy rice at the maximum retail prices to eat because they ‘drink’ it in the form of beer.

The candidates who contested the September presidential race have submitted their campaign expense reports. They must be made to reveal whether they have received any funds from the wealthy rice millers, who have politicians eating out of the palms of their hands while exploiting consumers and farmers alike.