Sri Lanka, March 19 -- Parliament, March 19 ()- The government is planning to issue licenses to open 200 wine stores under the FL4 category and 15 of them have already been issued, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa alleged in Parliament today.

He told Parliament that the government must reveal whether a decision has been taken to issue licenses to 200 wine stores, of which 15 have already been given.

Premadasa also revealed that six liquor manufacturing licenses have already been issued targeting the elections.

He said the move is being made under the new Commissioner General of the Excise Department M.J. Gunasiri.

State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe said the government has not acted outside the prevailing legal framework and...