CHENNAI: The state government on Sunday said procurement of paddy has substantially gone up. An official release said between 2016-17 and 2020-21, the previous government procured a total of 1,13,51,469 tonnes of paddy — an annual average of 22,70,293 tonnes. However, the DMK government, from 2021 to 2025, has procured 1,70,45,545 tonnes — an annual average of 42,61,386 tonnes. This is 19,91,093 tonnes more than the previous regime.
The release also said the current paddy procurement season began on September 1, a month earlier than the previous regime’s start date of October 1. As of October 24, as many as 1,853 DPCs have been opened, and 10.4 lakh tonnes of paddy has been procured.
Of this, 8.77 lakh tonnes have already been transported to various districts by train, with the remainder safely stored at the DPCs. Further, each DPC procures about 1,000 bags of paddy every day, with working hours extended from 6 pm to 8 pm. Owing to high inflow, centres are operating even on Sundays — 5,510.4 tonnes were procured on October 19 alone, the release said.
An adequate stock of 2.65 crore gunny bags and 28,856 plastic tarpaulins is available across the state. Also, paddy is being moved every day through 4,000 lorries and 13-15 trains, amounting to 35,000 tonnes a day. Furthermore, 100 additional load workers have been deployed since October 21, the release said.