Internal Trade Ministry Found 12,000 KG Of Rice Stock In Colombo Hidden By Traders

The Officers of the Cooperatives  and  Internal Trade Ministry had  found a 12,000 Kilo Grammes of  Rice Stock hidden by the Private Traders at stores in Fourth Cross Street of Pettah,Colombo today during a raid carried out there.According to the Ministry this is the largest stock of hidden Rice found during the raids so far and a legal action will be taken against the traders hidden  this Rice Stock.

Government has already directed  the  Criminal Investigations Department(CID) to carried out search operations to find out the Rice Stocks hidden by the Private Traders in order to stabilizing the Prices of Rice in the Local Market.The Prices of Varieties of Rice in the Market including of popular varieties like  Samba,and Kakulu Rice reported as goes up even the Government has announced a Control Prices for each variety.

As large number of paddy fields destroyed in the North Central Province during the heavy showers and floods occurred in the Province last month and the paddy harvest in the Coming season too not expected as high as previously estimated according to the government sources.Therefore  the Internal Trade Ministry has decided to issue stored Rice stocks at the Government Stores  to the market few days ago to prevent a possible  rice shortage

The Cooperatives and Internal Trade Ministry had already carried out 210 raids during past few days within the local Market to find hidden stocks of rice it has been reported.