The Hon. Sunil Handunnetti

¶ 01 Hon. Member, the point you raised is very important; thank you for bringing it up.

¶ 02 However, there is this issue. When ethanol was Rs. 1,500–1,700 per litre, the price of a bottle of arrack did not change. Even when the distilleries purchased ethanol at Rs. 1,500 per litre, they still sold an arrack bottle at Rs. 3,500–4,000. When ethanol was reduced to Rs. 475 per litre, the retail price remained the same. Then what is the issue? If you buy one litre of ethanol at Rs. 475, you can produce about three bottles of arrack from one litre of 90–96% spirit when diluted to 35–40%. If you can make three bottles out of a litre costing Rs. 475, how cheap could arrack be sold? Yet, a bottle still sells at Rs. 4,000. Hon. Chamara Sampath is here—ask him; he has fought on this matter. So, if the ethanol price was reduced to Rs. 475 and they did not reduce the arrack price, then an increase to Rs. 800 now will not cause them losses, nor does it warrant increasing arrack prices. I accept your point about kasippu (illicit liquor)—it is estimated that around 200,000 litres a day are consumed illicitly. That is why we have repeatedly said to grant licences to sugar and molasses-producing institutions like Hingurana and Pelwatte to make a low-priced legal bottle to undercut illicit liquor. That is where the issue lies. It is not our issue alone. I will report this to the Hon. President.

¶ 03 There are two or three officials in the Finance Ministry—this is said with due respect—who take money from the distillery companies. I will expose this tomorrow or the day after, Hon. Hakeem. The people in that business prevent proper regulation. Historical political practices have created mistakes; those are hard to fix. The obstacle is not you personally.

¶ 04 Apologies; that is the practice on that side. Our approach differs, and a few people still cannot adapt. Hence the problem. Otherwise we can correct this—we must. If we do not, both ethanol and sugar industries will collapse. I have only two choices: either reduce what we pay farmers, or increase the ethanol price.