High food prices beyond Govt control :

Gammanpila takes Ranil to task

by P. Krishnaswamy

Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) Legal Advisor and Western PC Environment, Agriculture, Agrarian Development and Industry Minister Udaya Gammanpila lashed out at Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe for saying that the administration of Local Government bodies should not be entrusted to the ruling party of President Mahinda Rajapaksa which has failed to even reduce the price of coconut.

The Opposition Leader's statement is ridiculous in that a marked decline in the production of food and plantation crops is a world phenomenon, not peculiar to Sri Lanka, due to climate change resulting from global warming, he told the Sunday Observer.

The Opposition Leader should concede that this is beyond the control of this Government or any government for that matter and that he should refrain from taking political mileage of the situation for his propaganda in the run-up to the May 17 Local Government elections, Gammanpila said.

Asian countries have especially been greatly affected in the recent years and are encountering difficulties in providing some of the food items at affordable prices to their people, he said. Posing a question to the Opposition Leader, he said, onion prices have increased manifold in India, coconut oil prices have sky-rocketed in Bangladesh and wheat flour prices have hit a new high in Pakistan. How does the Opposition Leader explain this? Is the Mahinda Rajapaksa administration in power in those countries too? he asked.

In some countries people have started rioting and in some parts people have started to loot shops because they are starving. Our Government has made available to the people three square meals a day.

This is because President Rajapaksa foresaw this situation and started the 'Api Wawamu, Rata Nagamu' agricultural program. He got into the paddy field and ploughed the fields, setting an example to others, Gammanpila said.

When prices of fertiliser were Rs.7,000 in the world market, the President gave it to the farmers at a concessionary price of Rs.350 which is a 90 percent subsidised price.

He provided seed paddy free to farmers who were willing to cultivate their abandoned paddy fields and set a minimum price for rice, the Western PC Minister said.

"People can understand the situation. The Opposition should not try to hoodwink them", he said.