The owner of ‘New Rathna’ Rice Mill, Lankeshwara Mithrapala, has invited Trade Minister Wasantha Samarasinghe to personally inspect the company’s rice production facilities in the wake of the minister’s statement in Parliament yesterday (6) accusing large-scale rice millers of stockpiling.
Responding to the allegations, Mithrapala stated, “I urge the Trade Minister to inspect my company at any time. I can prove the quantity of rice I released, my production capacity, and the stocks I have.”
He explained that his operations involve maintaining rice stocks to ensure consistent market supply until the next harvest season.
“We don’t release all our rice stocks to the market at once. I have 1,000 employees working at the mill, and I manage these stocks to produce rice daily and supply it to the market until the next harvest begins. I must protect the rice stocks I have and continue production until February 1,” Mithrapala explained.
