Efforts under way to prevent procured paddy from getting drenched, says official

Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation has covered godowns with a capacity of 13.50 lakh tonnes, and hired godowns with a total capacity of 3.50 lakh tonnes, says Principal Secretary

The State government would ensure that paddy procured from farmers would not get drenched in rain in the next 18 months, said J. Radhakrishnan, Prinicipal Secretary, Cooperation, Food and Consumer Protection Department.

Talking to reporters after inspecting ration shops and Pandian Cooperative Stores here on Saturday, he said that Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation had covered godowns with a total capacity of 13.50 lakh tonnes. Besides, it had hired godowns with a total capacity of 3.50 lakh tonnes.

Stating that primarily the covered godowns were used to stock finished food grains like rice, pulses and palmoil, he said the remaining space was used for stocking paddy. However, during peak harvest season, the government would have a stock of upto 10 lakh tonnes of paddy and most of them are stocked and covered with tarpaulin sheets which sometimes leads to drenching of the paddy during monsoon rain.

To overcome the covered godown shortage, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had ordered construction of covered godowns in 20 places with a total capacity of 2.86 lakh tonnes.

Construction work of the godowns at a cost of ₹238 crore is under way and would be ready in another 18 months.

Over and above this new facility, TNCSC is planning to augment safe storage facilities by using warehouses of agricultrial marketing societies and primary agricultural cooperative societies. "We hope that in the next 18 months, there will be no incidents of paddy stocks getting exposed to rain," Mr. Radhakrishnan said.

Out of the 35,595 ration shops in the State, 75 shops in every district would be renovated with better ambience to attract people, he said. Mr. Radhakrishnan also warned that stringent action would be taken against ration shop employees if they are were involved in smuggling of ration goods.