Govt To Provide Relief Package For Low-Income Families For Upcoming Sinhala And Tamil New Year

COLOMBO (News 1st): The government is focusing on providing a relief package containing essential food items to low-income earners, for the upcoming Sinhala and Tamil New Year.

The Food Policy and Security Committee convened in Parliament yesterday to discuss this matter.

This Committee is chaired by Ministers K.D. Lalkantha and Wasantha Samarasinghe.

During the meeting, discussions were held on maintaining the availability of essential food items without shortages during the Sinhala and Tamil New Year period, and on keeping the prices of these items under control.

This year's budget has allocated Rs. 1 billion to provide essential food items at concessionary prices to low-income families during the festive season, and the proper use of these funds was also discussed at length.

The committee's attention was focused on maintaining the fluctuation of essential commodity prices in the market at a minimum level.

The committee also discussed reducing the prices of bakery products.

Attention was also paid to the purchase of paddy, and it was agreed to conduct a follow-up on the amount of paddy purchased under the loan facilities provided to mill owners for paddy purchase.

The Ministers instructed the officials to look into the matter as information has been received that some rice mill owners are using the loans obtained for paddy purchase for other purposes.

It was revealed here that several large-scale rice mill owners have obtained bank loans of over Rs. 15 billion for the purchase of paddy.

The committee also focused on encouraging small-scale rice mill owners to purchase paddy.