Colombo, April 4 -- While stressing the need for government intervention in market actvities, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said today the government will end the distortion in the rice and paddy market within two to three seasons.

Speaking at the Aluth Sahal (new rice) festival in Anuradhapura, he said the government will not let farmers and consumers be subjected to hardships by a small group.

"There is a distortion in the market. We need to stop it. We expect government intervention in market activities to end this distortion. A small group has created the distortion in the paddy and rice market. We have taken a firm decision to intervene in market activities. As the initial step towards that we renovated our paddy storages and ...