The Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) raided the Dambulla Dedicated Economic Centre on April 7, citing multiple traders for selling rice above approved retail prices and failing to display pricing information as required by consumer protection law.
Dambulla — Sri Lanka’s largest wholesale hub for rice and vegetables — supplies retail markets across the island, making enforcement there more consequential than the earlier Kegalle raids carried out under the same pre-Avurudu campaign. The CAA said legal action would be taken against traders found in breach and that island-wide enforcement would continue through the Sinhala-Tamil New Year period on April 13–14.
The authority has deployed special enforcement units across five regions including Galle, Anuradhapura, Kandy and Kurunegala, with additional operations running on a rolling national basis. Rice has been the central focus of consumer complaints in recent weeks following the President’s gazette permitting samba rice imports to ease a domestic shortage, with retail prices in some districts climbing well above the controlled ceiling.
Pre-Avurudu price control raids are a seasonal pattern in Sri Lanka, with the CAA traditionally stepping up enforcement on rice, dhal, sugar, oil, vegetables and dried fish in the two weeks before the festival. This year’s raids have run alongside parallel restaurant-bottled-water and takeaway-meal price probes triggered by the April 1 LP gas hike.
Consumers can report pricing violations to the CAA hotline. Traders found breaching gazette prices face fines and, in repeat cases, the suspension of trading licences.
