When heroes cower

Thursday 30th September, 2021

It looks as if a cartel of rice millers were running the country. The government has withdrawn the Gazette that stipulated the much-publicised maximum retail prices (MRPs) of rice, and thereby conceded defeat in its half-hearted fight against the Millers’ Mafia. When it ordered the Consumer Protection Authority (CAA) to conduct raids and seize hoarded paddy/rice stocks, the public may have thought the millers had met their match in the leaders of the current regime, which is full of military veterans in key positions. Alas, the Millers’ Mafia struck back, and the heroes have made a tails-between-legs retreat.

Adding insult to injury, the powerful millers have announced the new retail prices of rice much to the embarrassment of the ruling party toughies who take pride in having defeated the world’s most ruthless terrorist outfit!

The government has threatened to import rice to counter the arrogant millers’ sinister moves. This method is bound to fail; when rice imports arrive, the Millers’ Mafia will release some of its stocks to the market, bringing down the prices of rice. The locally produced rice will sell as it suits Sri Lankans’ palates, and the imported rice will remain unsold in Sathosa warehouses and be disposed as animal feed in the end. This, we have witnessed on numerous occasions. Sathosa is full of thieves, who collude with the wealthy millers, and public funds spent on rice imports will go down the gurgler again.

If the government is really keen to tame the Millers’ Mafia, it should strengthen the small and medium mills and thereby make the paddy and rice markets competitive; they lack the wherewithal to compete with their big counterparts and cannot obtain bank loans before the commencement of the harvesting to purchase paddy because of the skullduggery of the Millers’ Mafia, which sways the banking sector; by the time they receive funds, there is hardly any good quality paddy left for them to buy.

The task of determining the MRPs of rice must be carried out by the state, and not the Millers’ Mafia responsible for exploiting farmers and consumers alike. That is what a government is there for.

Learn from chaos in UK

Fuel pumps have run dry in most parts of the UK, plunging supply lines into utter chaos. Out of sheer desperation, the British government has had to deploy military drivers to operate tankers. The demand for fuel is increasing in the UK, and panic buying rampant. Fuel shortages have left supermarket shelves empty due to supply chain breakdowns, according to media reports.

Sri Lanka ought to learn from the UK’s experience and take steps to avert a similar situation. The fuel crisis in Britain is due to a shortage of drivers to distribute oil. A large number of tanker drivers working in the UK were from the EU countries, especially Romania, and they have left for Germany and France since Brexit.

In Sri Lanka, there is no fuel shortage as such, but rumours are being floated that the government is not in a position to pay for petroleum imports owing to the present forex crunch, and, therefore, the possibility of panic buying cannot be ruled out.

In the UK, there has been panic buying of fuel during the past several days, aggravating the fuel shortage, and there is the danger of Sri Lanka facing such a problem when it fully reopens soon. All it takes to trigger panic buying is a single social media post with a doctored picture of a long line of vehicles near a fuel station.

Fuel pumps, it bears recall, almost ran dry a few weeks ago here after an Opposition trade union leader had warned of an imminent fuel shortage, but an assurance from the government, albeit belatedly, helped bring the situation under control. It may also be recalled that following the X-Press Pearl ship disaster, some social media activists duped the public into panic-buying salt, of all things, causing an unprecedented shortage thereof.

Governor of the Central Bank Ajith Nivard Cabraal has assured the public that the government will release enough funds for fuel imports for the remaining quarter of the current year. Salutary and reassuring as his pledge may be, it is doubtful whether his message has reached the public at large. The government should not only ensure a steady supply of fuel but also seriously consider keeping people informed of the availability of petroleum stocks regularly to keep scaremongers at bay.