Rice mills to be kept open to avoid any shortage

By Lahiru Pothmulla

It has been decided at a group meeting of the government to keep all major rice mills in the country open to avoid any shortage of rice, the prime minister’s office said yesterday.  

The meeting was held under the chair of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa to discuss the issues and difficulties faced by the people during these trying times.  

It has been discussed that there were ample stocks of rice in the market to meet the demand of 
the people.   

However, the decision has been taken to keep open all major rice mills to continue an  uninterrupted supply of rice to the market due the emergency situation prevailing in the country after naming rice mills as an essential service.  

The issues in the fisheries sector were also discussed at the meeting and the Prime Minister has instructed the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance to address the issues immediately after having discussions with the Fisheries Corporation.  

The distribution of essential food items, medicines and to setting up of a mechanism to provide relief to people who are stranded in cities without being able to go home due to the curfew were also discussed at the meeting.   
The Chairman of the Special Task Force on Providing Essential Services, Basil Rajapaksa, Health Services Director General Dr. Anil Jasinghe, The Army Commander, the Acting IGP, Ministers Chamal Rajapaksa, Pavithra Wanniarachchi, Dinesh Gunawardana, Wimal Weerawansa, Bandula Gunawardana, Dayasiri Jayasekara, Kanchana Wijesekara, Shehan Semasinghe and other former MPs of the government also took part in the meeting.