Rs.600 Million
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NO E-PAPER FROM RICE MILLS DECLARED APRIL 13 TO 15 The Daily News E-Paper will not be published from Monday, April 13 to Wednesday, April 15 in view of the Sinhala and Tamil New Year. Publication will resume from Thursday, April 16. The online edition of the Daily News will be updated as usual during this period at www.dailynews.lk. AN essenTIAL SERVICE RICE MILLS HAVE TO BE KEPT OPEN THREE MILLION MT OF PADDY HARVesTED STERN ACTION AGAINST PRICE GOUGING AMALI MALLAWARACHCHI to distribute in the entire country.A Services of all rice mills have been harvest of around three million metric Rs.600 million declared an essential service under the tons of paddy has been reaped by now COVID–19 quarantine process since and the quantity of rice that can be the provision of essential foods and rice produced is equivalent to 2/3 of that production, storage and distribution is amount. MAXIMUM RETAIL allocated for imperative to ensure food security, the Accordingly, all the relevant par- President’s Office said. ties have been told that increasing the Rice mill owners must produce rice rice prices or hampering the supply of in their respective areas using paddy rice pose a major impediment to the purchasing fish stocks in their possession. Under the effective implementation of quarantine PRICes FOR RICE instructions of the President, the Secre- activities. The Consumer Affairs Authority yesterday CHAMINDA PERERA tary to the President P. B. Jayasundara Accordingly, the President’s Secre- announced maximum retail prices (MRP) on rice in a letter had informed the Acting tary has instructed relevant parties to with effect from April 10, 2020. The Government yesterday allocated Rs. 600 million for the Inspector General of Police, the Direc- pay more attention and give the highest Accordingly, the retail price for 1 kg of Keeri early purchase of the fish harvest, based on the decision arrived tor General of Health Services, the possible priority to maintain food secu- Samba will be Rs. 125. The MRP for 1 kg of White/ at the meeting of ruling party members of the former Parliament Commissioner General of Food and rity during this period when the people Red Kekulu Samba, Red/White (Steamed) Samba, on Thursday. the Chairman of the Consumer Affairs have been subjected to some form of Red/White Nadu (Steamed) will be Rs. 90. This This meeting was held in Colombo under the patronage of Authority to take measures enabling quarantine and the food and other maximum retail price does not apply to Suduru President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda small scale rice mill owners to distrib- essential items are being delivered to Samba, Motteyikaruppan and Attikari rice varie- Rajapaksa. ute rice stocks within their respective their doorsteps. ties. This decision has been taken to prevent the inconvenience Divisional Secretariat Divisions, medi- The Osu Sala, pharmacies and bank- The retail price for 1 kg of Red/White Kekulu faced by both fishermen and the public. um scale owners to distribute within ing services remain in the category of rice will be Rs. 85. Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa had apprised the former the district and large scale owners essential services as is the Port. parliamentarians at this meeting that measures need to be taken to safeguard local industries in the face of imminent global eco- nomic down turn due to Covid 19 pandemic. He had said that a comprehensive mechanism will be put in place to purchase fish stocks brought from multi day fishing trawlers in compliance with health guidelines and distribute them to all parts of the country for the benefit of people. “We have already directed the Fisheries Corporation to immediately purchase the fish stocks “, the Prime Minister said He had said that country should strive to meet its rice, vegeta- ble, fish and fruit requirements locally. Chairman of the Presidential Task Force to Coordinate and Monitor the delivery of continuous services for the sustenance of overall community life and former Minister Basil Rajapaksa said that fishermen have been allowed to engage in fishing. “Permission has been granted for the fishermen to engage in fishing. Inland fishermen can also continue their livelihood without any hassle. Demands for local produce including veg- etables, fruits and chicken need to be promoted. As these items are not exported now, they are kept in storage”, he said The former Minister said that demands for these produce should be increased to find a market for these produce. Rs. 10,600 million paid to Samurdhi beneficiaries CAMELIA NATHANIEL Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi addressing the media briefing at the National Operation Centre for the Pharmacies Prevention of Covid-19 said that the Rs. 5000 loan initially granted to the Samurdhi beneficiaries will be given to them as a donation. Accordingly, to date 2,126,826 families have to be kept open except been paid a total of Rs. 10,634 million. In addition, the Minister said that 104,595 disabled per- sons have been paid a total of Rs. 522.9 million. Further, Rs. 180 million has been paid to 38,083 persons suffering in curfew areas from kidney disease as an allowance. RUKSHANA RIZWIE Another Rs. 2,814 million has been paid as allowance for the elderly to 562,977 persons. A decision was reached yesterday at the meeting of the spe- These allowances have been paid on the initiative by the cial Presidential Task Force on Essential Services to ensure Presidential Task Force headed by Basil Rajapaksa. that pharmacies islandwide remain open except in districts Minister Wanniarachchi also noted that it was a cause where curfew is currently in-force. to be happy that by 4.30 pm today there were no Covid-19 Accordingly pharmacies islandwide have been requested to positive patients reported even after extensive testing at be kept open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m except in districts where several centres. She added that 58 persons who are at risk a curfew is in place. The directive to open pharmacies came of having contracted the Coronavirus have been sent to earlier this week during a task force meeting after which the Diyatalawa quarantine centre and although 20 of them pharmacies were kept open on Thursday and yesterday (Fri- were tested, none of them were found to be infected. day). Meanwhile Army Commander Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva For the districts which are in lockdown or under police said that 59 persons who had violated the quarantine laws curfew medicines can be delivered door to door once custom- and health advice and 27 others who had closely associated ers place their order through online platforms (Whats App, SLPP suspends Sevanagala PS Member with an infected person (total 86) were taken to the Army Viber) from the respective pharmacies. run Katukaliyawa quarantine centre. Another 10 persons Meanwhile, the Drug Regulatory Authority has set out The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) has on charges of sexually abusing a 13-year old child from Wellampitiya and Kurunegala who are relatives of an instructions specifying the legal procedures to be followed suspended the party membership of Thanamal- suffering from Down’s Syndrome. The suspects infected person were also taken to the Punani quarantine by pharmacies. This includes ensuring adequate stocks of wila Pradeshiya Sabha member R. A. Ranaweera have been remanded till April 16 after being centre. In addition, another ten persons who are relatives medicines .without any shortages. who was arrested in connection with the Sevana- produced before Court. of an infected person were sent to the Damminna quaran- The Sri Lanka Chamber of the Pharmaceutical Industry gala child abuse case. “The SLPP is a party with thorough discipline tine centre. (SLCPI) has assured the National Medicines Regulatory SLPP Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam in a and we expect the same from all party members. Currently, 1455 persons are being quarantined at 12 Authority (NMRA) of regular supplies of medicines to ensure press release yesterday said that the letter of sus- We have emphasized this fact when handing over quarantine centres. there will be no shortages. pension has already been issued and that the PS nominations from the party, and even in the past In addition, Health Services Director General Dr. Anil The public has been requested not panic and queue outside member would soon be expelled from the party we have expelled and stripped the members of Jasinghe addressing the media briefing said that of the 190 pharmacies unnecessarily. after a disciplinary inquiry. their positions in the party when they did not identified Covid-19 infected patients 50 of them have left They should buy their medicines from the pharmacy near- The PS member and four others were arrested obey the party rules,” Kariyawasam said. hospital after making a full recovery. est to their residence. The public has requested not to stock up medicines unnec- essarily. Doing so under sub-optimal storage conditions at home may result in loss of efficacy of medicines. When visiting pharmacies public is requested to maintain strict hygienic practices (wear a face mask, wash/sanitize GLOBAL CASES EXCEED 1.6 MILLION hands) and ensure social distancing. The total number of global COVID-19 there are 1,650,210 cases, with the US deaths and Spain for 16,000.More than down cities are now open for travel, day- In addition, mobile pharmacy services to supply commonly cases exceeded 1.6 million last night. leading at 473,000 cases. Spain (157,000 368,000 people across the globe have fully to-day activity and limited business. There used medicines to households will be provided in the Ampara, The number of deaths exceeded 100,000.