4 May 2020 12:01 am
By Sandun A. Jayasekera
The Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) has removed the maximum retail prices of Mysore Dhal and canned fish with immediate effect.
In an extraordinary gazette notification, the CAA announced the removal of the maximum prices
on Thursday.
On March 17 the CAA announced the reduction of prices of a kilogram of Mysore dhal to Rs.65 and Rs.100 for a 425 gram of canned fish as a concession to the public in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and imposing of the islandwide curfew.
The Consumer Affairs Authority last week rescinding an earlier gazette notification on October 12, 2018 removed the maximum retail prices imposed on sugar.
Meanwhile, the Agriculture Ministry has instructed the fertilizer companies to cancel the dealership of traders who sell fertilizer at higher prices.
Farmers can lodge complaints on telephone numbers 0110340 3931 and 011 340 3794 in the Media Division of the Ministry of Agriculture regarding such fertilizer dealers who sell fertilizer over the fixed prices.
“The Agriculture Ministry has been inundated with information that fertilizer dealers were selling fertilizer at prices higher than the fixed price. The price of a 50 kg pack of subsidised fertilizer for crops other than paddy is Rs.1,000 and the price of a mixed fertilizer pack is Rs.1,150. Prices are printed on the pack”.
The government distributes fertilizer to farmers free of charge and the costs and the indicated price is for the transportation costs of fertilizer companies and the profit of dealers.
Black marketers who sell subsidised fertilizer for excessive prices can be punished under the Public Property Act. Any farmer is free to complain.
Arrangements have been made to sell subsidised chemical fertilizer for vegetables, fruits and field crops on through Agrarian Service Centres on the recommendation of the Agriculture Instructor.