Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Thursday ordered construction of 47 godowns with modern facilities to store foodgrains harvested in 19 districts. In the first phase, 37 godowns with a capacity of 1.46 lakh metric tonnes would be built at a cost of Rs 117.20 crore.
The new godowns would come up in Thanjavur, Coimbatore, Krishnagiri, Villupuram, Pudukottai, Sivaganga, Namakkal, Kancheepuram, Tiruvannamalai, Tirupur, Tuticorin, Tiruvallur, Trichi, Karur, Ramanathapuram, Salem and Vellore.
At present, the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation has godowns with a capacity to store 6.68 lakh metric tonnes of foodgrains. The State government has been implementing schemes to provide 20 kg rice free of cost through Public Distribution System and to check the increasing price of rice in the open market, the government has introduced the sale of rice at Rs 20 per kg. For implementing these schemes efficiently, modern facilities for storing foodgrains are required.