Chamara Sampath alleges racket in Ponni Rice imports

A group of importers loyal to the trade minister and the government imported Ponni Rice on the same morning a gazette was issued, said MP Chamara Sampath Dassanayake.

He told parliament the result was that no other trader is able to import rice now.

Dassanayake also said an import tariff on potatoes and big onions should have come three months earlier.

Had that been done, local cultivators should have been relieved of their burdens.

Imported salt is melting away at the port, he added.