The Hon. Wasantha Samarasinghe

¶ 01 Three containers. Hon. Speaker, the Hon. Member raised an important issue. Private importers bring rice either by opening LCs or as direct buyers paying upon arrival. Regardless of method, once at port and documents are submitted to Customs, the rice is checked. There are three checkpoints; container-by-container checks are done. We have arranged with the Director General of Customs to enable clearance within about four hours where compliant.

¶ 02 Out of 75 containers from one private importer, we found weevils in three. We instructed him to send those back. Many rushed to import; some may not have considered quality. As a Government we took responsibility and informed agencies: only rice fit for human consumption must reach the market. Otherwise, those containers too would have entered the market. We did not allow it.

¶ 03 Regarding past issues: not just two bags — there is a case under the Consumer Affairs Authority concerning 2,000 MT of unfit rice in Anuradhapura that was being repackaged for human consumption; it was ordered to be sent for animal feed. We will not allow even a single grain unfit for human consumption to enter Sri Lanka.