A Sri Lankan government minister has told estate workers to eat rice flour items instead of using wheat flour, as the price of wheat continued to rise.

The Sunday Times reports that Agriculture Minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said estate workers should avoid eating roti, traditionally made from wheat flour, proposing subsidised rice flour be provided instead.

His remarks come as the Sri Lankan government introduced a hotline for consumers to call and complain about retailers who are charging higher than the government controlled price for rice. The Consumer Affairs Authority has so far raided 400 vendors who had sold goods at higher than the set limit, reports ColomboPage.

The government had earlier banned wheat products from various public institutions, including hospital, prison and school canteens, with Sinhala nationalists labelling wheat as part of an international conspiracy against the country.

The Sri Lankan government has handed over 94 Tamil Nadu fishermen to the Indian Coast Guard, after Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa ordered their release as a goodwill gesture for Indian Independence Day.

The Indian High Commission has increased its defence representation in Sri Lanka reports the New Indian Express, with a member from the Army heading the Defence Wing.

Col Gurinder S Klaire has been appointed as Deputy Defence Advisor to assist Defence Advisor Capt Prakash Gopalan, the first time a member of the Army has held the post, which has traditionally been taken up by a member of the Navy.

At least 260 migrant Tamil workers are being held against their will and forced to work for the Kurdish military, the Tamil Guardian has learnt.

Up to 40 of the men refused to carry out the work, which included unloading of arms and the building of bunkers and fortifications, and demanded to be allowed to leave the country, but were then detained and severely beaten by Kurdish security forces, with several suffering injuries. Only ten of the men were subsequently sent back to the island.

The Tamil men, the vast majority of who hail from the Northeast of the island of Sri Lanka, are all employed as contractors for MXCare, which operates in the airport of Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, but have been forced to work for the Kurdish authorities for the past two months.

The brother of one of the men who was returned said to the Tamil Guardian that he was beaten with the butt of a rifle, requiring him to be admitted to hospital.

“They initially carried out the work as demanded of them, because they were too scared to resist the Kurdish authorities. But when the [Islamic State] militants drew closer to Erbil, our men started resisting,” S Selvakumar told Tamil Guardian from Pallaisuddy, Jaffna.