Starving Jaffna citizens to death?
By V. Sathanandan
in Colombo
The acute shortage of essential goods in Jaffna has been in the news for sometime. The Government says it is addressing the matter and the Commissioner General of Essential Services is said to have chartered three vessels in the past month to carry a total of about 6,000 tons of essentials over there.
M.P. Padmini Sitamparanathan says a minimum of 10,000 tons of essential goods are required monthly and complained on the floor of Parliament on October 05 that prices in Jaffna that week were Rice Rs.135, flour Rs.150 Sugar Rs.250 ( all per kilo). Petrol at Rs.500/ltr and Kerosene at Rs.130/ltr. Today these prices too have gone well over 200%above those prices mentioned in early October.
While the good intention of the President and the Cabinet may be to bring down prices in Jaffna, like the rest of the country, the fact that this has not taken place so far raises many questions.
One regular writer to the Press has suggested the people of Jaffna have been subjected to famine, which, fortunately does not appear to be government policy. There is a problem of transport and distribution logistics says D.M.P. Dissanayake, Deputy Minister in charge of food supplies. Although a few ships have gone to Jaffna traders there are keeping prices high says the Minister.
This however may not be the case always. The Army is said to have taken over the distribution of essentials through Cooperatives and other distribution outlets in Jaffna with the intention of bringing prices down. Mr. Dissanayake also says inclement weather and the closure of A9 road are also contributory factors and observes the situation is likely to improve if the Peace Talks succeed in Geneva late October.
In other word the people of Jaffna who are now suffering chronic and unbearable shortages they never suffered in the past and will have to endure this suffering until such time as the A9 is opened.
This is an unacceptable suggestion made by persons “with a full stomach” and whose children and family are eating 3 full meals a day, being the minimum. The people of Jaffna are suffering for the past 3 months without sufficient food and the government’s inability to provide them with essential goods at affordable prices can be interpreted in so many ways.
I have no reason to doubt the good intentions of the President and the government and, therefore I have made the bold move to make a suggestion to help both the people of Jaffna and the government.
It is understood Mr. Dissanayake’s Ministry of Nation Building has called tenders for nearly 10,000 tons of Rice, 3,000 tons of Dhal and 1,000 tons of sugar. Formalities like tender procedure, fixing vessel to unsafe Sri Lankan ports like KKS/Jaffna, loading and unloading, under hostile conditions will take at least 1- 2 months.
I am told regular Indian suppliers of all 3 items offered to ship these goods are to start arriving in KKS within 3 days at the following prices Rice Rs.30/kilo, Sugar Dhal/Rs75 per kilo provided government assures quick unloading and safe passage to the Indian vessel and crew.
There is however the likelihood of local farmers protesting the import of Rice at this time.
The fact is Sri Lanka produces over 3 million tons of Rice annually and the quantity of 10,000 tons for a humanitarian cause under exceptional conditions should not make any difference to local farmers at all.
If the government actually wants to help the people of Jaffna immediately this is certainty one way to go about it. I am prepared to do all I can to help these people overcome this sad situation.
