Samagi Jana Balawegaya MP Rohini Kavirathna has rejected minister Wasantha Samarasinghe’s claim that Kekulu rice was unavailable for Thai Pongal due to the previous government having distributed rice free of charge.
Describing the claim as a planned, baseless lie to mislead the public, she noted a mere one-fourteenth of the more than 700,000 metric tonnes of Kekulu rice produced in the past few years was allotted for free distribution as per a collective decision taken by the previous parliament.
The then president Ranil Wickremesinghe implemented it on a recommendation by a parliamentary committee in fulfilment of a communal responsibility of the executive and the legislature, Kavirathna said in a statement.
What had been distributed on two separate occasions among 2.7 million families was only 54,000 mt and 75 pc of was Kelulu rice, which amounts to a maximum 50,000 mt, she said.
The aim of the incumbent government by this fabrication is to escape the responsibility of providing food for the poorest in the society in the future, the MP charged.
She attributed the shortage to celebrate Thai Pongal for the first time ever to the government’s inability to manage the economy.
“Its disregard for national food requirement is clearly seen by the food policy committee not meeting once during its term so far,” Kaviratne added.
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