Food shortage ‘Gotabaya-made disaster’- JVP

By Saman Indrajith

The JVP says that the food shortage in the country is nothing but a ‘Gotabaya-made disaster.’

Addressing a press conference held at the party headquarters in Pelawatte on Tuesday, the JVP National Organiser and former MP Bimal Ratnayake said that all prevailing problems could not be attributed to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The prevailing food shortage is because of the ill-advised decision made by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa with regard to organic fertilizers. COVID-19 had nothing to do with it. The food crisis is nothing but a ‘Gotabaya-made disaster,” Ratnayake said.

He said that the decision made by the President was a short-sighted imprudent act. “There is a shortage of food items in the market. The shortage was created by a policy decision to shift from chemical to organic fertilizers on an ad hoc basis resulting in disruption of cultivations. The shortage resulted in price increases. The government has puppets as ministers who cannot control the market prices. It is Dudley Sirisena who decides the prices of paddy and rice. Some private companies providing goods and services too do the same. They decide the prices of their products as they wish while the ministers cannot do anything about it. As a result of this the products do not get their deserving price and they are sold at exorbitant prices enabling the middlemen to fleece the public at their will,” Ratnayake said.

He said that people should line up with the JVP to change the status quo immediately without waiting for the total collapse of the system.