The Northern Provincial Council (NPC) yesterday adopted a resolution banning the transport of bottled toddy to the Northern Province from the South.
Provincial Agriculture Minister P.Ainakaraneshan submitted the proposal to ban the transport of bottled toddy to the Northern Province from the South.
The Provincial Minister while submitting the proposals to the Northern Provincial Council said that the palmyrah toddy tapping industry in the province will be affected, if bottled toddy is allowed to be transported from the Southern Province.
He said that artificial toddy manufactured in the South is being transported to the Northern Province in bottles.
“This situation will have an impact on the natural toddy tapping industry in the North”, he said. The Provincial Minister told the council that a number of people in the province who consumed bottled toddy were diagnosed with various ailments and infections during the past few months as they constituted chemical substances harmful to the body.
He said that they will make the Excise Department aware of this situation and necessary steps would be taken to stop transporting artificial toddy from the South to the Northern Province.