National Movement for Consumer Rights Protection President Ranjith Withanage says that the decision taken by the traders to increase the price of a kilogram of wheat flour by Rs. 8.00 is ‘illegal’.
“Due to the increase of the wheat flour price without proper reason, bakery owners will take the opportunity to increase the price of bakery products. The price of wheat flour cannot be increased according to the desires of the wheat flour companies.
“The government has designated wheat flour as an essential commodity and, under the Consumer Affairs Authority Act No 9 of 2003, its controlled price was gazetted on July 14, 2019 at Rs. 87.00 per kilogram,” Withanage argued.
Therefore, the National Movement for Consumer Rights Protection has urged the acting Minister in charge of Consumer Affairs Buddhika Pathirana to intervene immediately and take legal action against traders who had taken the decision to increase the price of flour. Withanage charged that the law in the country was enforced against the small scale companies in one manner while the large scale companies were accorded greater privileges.