Min gave false info to Assembly about paddy procurement, says EPS

THE state government should act on a war footing to move the procured paddy stored in bags at direct paddy purchase centres (DPCs) to godowns so that the harvested paddy kept in the open could be procured as well, said AIADMK general secretary and Leader of the Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami on Wednesday.

- EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE Tiruvarur/Nagapattinam

Addressing media persons in Tiruvarur after inspecting the paddy kept in the open by the farmers outside the DPCs in Thanjavur and Tiruvarur districts, Palaniswami said that the farmers have been complaining to him that the paddy brought by them were not procured at DPCs for days together.

"Due to this, the paddy heaped in the open got damaged due to the rain. As procured paddy in thousands of bags continues to remain in the DPCs, the authorities there are unable to procure the paddy brought by the farmers," the former chief minister added. In some DPCs, the procured paddy got affected in the rain and has started sprouting, he further said.