FOR MILK, FOR FUEL

Food and fuel shortage has triggered widespread protests against the ruling Rajapaksas

- LAKSHMI SUBRAMANIAN

FOR 33-YEAR-old Anandhi from Jaffna, life has been an ordeal for the past two months. She runs the household all by herself. Her husband, Uthayakumar, died of Covid and her parents, who were injured in the civil war, are wheelchair-bound. Her two sons attend online classes whenever possible. But Anandhi’s immediate concern is the food and fuel shortage which has engulfed Sri Lanka. Although she works in a supermarket, she finds it difficult to get essential goods as hardly any supplies reach Jaffna these days. “Sometimes, I don’t get kerosene even after waiting for three hours. Our country is becoming unliveable,” she said.

Anandhi’s neighbour Apinaya Devanesan can no longer get milk for her three-year-old daughter, despite standing in queue from dawn. For a few days, Anandhi used to bring her milk powder from the supermarket where she works, but Apinaya said she could no longer afford it. The price of milk powder has gone up to LKR (Lankan rupees) 2,000 per kilogram.

“For the past nine weeks, the price of milk powder has been going up in the world market. With our falling dollar reserves, we are not able to import from the world market,” said Asoka Bandara, spokesperson for the Milk Powder Importers’ Association.

Chicken, which used to be a staple, now costs nearly LKR 6,500 a kilo. “I buy only vegetables these days. But the non-availability of kerosene and cooking gas is another problem,” said Dilanta Weerasekara, an autorickshaw driver from Colombo.