MADURAI: Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Department Principal Secretary J Radhakrishnan held an inspection at several ration shops in Madurai district on Saturday. Addressing media persons later, he said as per the orders of Chief Minister MK Stalin, the department is taking proactive steps to ensure the availability of good quality essential products at fair price shops, and inspections are being held at shops across the State to ensure this.
"There are 35,595 ration shops, including around 1,300 in Madurai district, functioning in the State. The department has decided to renovate all the shops. In the first phase, at least 75 fair price shops will receive a facelift. There are about 18.54 lakh family ration card holders, 96.54 lakh rice card holders, 3.84 lakh sugar card holders and 60,056 persons with cards issued under the Anthyodaya Anna Yojana scheme in the State," Radhakrishnan said.
Noting that paddy procurement is being carried out through the cooperative sector, the principal secretary said the government had taken up the construction of storage facilities with a total capacity of 2.86 lakh tonnes at 20 places at an estimated total cost of Rs 238 crore. "This year, the District Central Co-operative Banks have provided a total of Rs 67,000 crore credit assistance through Primary Agricultural Co-operative Credit Societies, including agricultural credit assistance worth Rs 10.252 crore, gold jewellery credit assistance worth around Rs 40,000 crore, and environmental finance and micro-credit assistance of over Rs 10,000 crore," he added.
The principal secretary also said strict measures are being taken to prevent rice smuggling. Over 11,000 cases have been registered and 11,121 persons arrested in this regard in the last three months. Further, 113 people have also been lodged under the Goondas Act. "If any official is found involved in or assisting such crimes, departmental action will surely be taken against them," he concluded.