Sue the Sinhala government over the non payment of their dues totalling over Rs. 500 million for the food supplied to nearly 300,000 Tamil Idps

Food suppliers to IDPs to sue govt.

Over 100 food suppliers are preparing to sue the government over the non payment of their dues totalling over Rs. 500 million for the food supplied to nearly 300,000 internally displaced persons housed in welfare camps.

The suppliers who earlier staged a protest opposite the District Secretariat demanding payment and had met the District Secretary six times but had not received any payment. They then took their grievance to Resettlement Minister Rishard Badiudden and Muslim Congress parliamentarian Rauf Hakeem on Monday (13) afternoon but their failure to get a favourable solution has led them to seek legal redress.

Earlier it was agreed by the Government that the suppliers would be paid at the rate of Rs 130 per day. This was later reduced to Rs 100 per day. According to the suppliers, funds to settle them even at the rate of Rs 100 per day had still not been made available to the District Secretariat.

The suppliers said they had not been paid for the food supplied over a period of six months.

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