Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister MRK Panneerselvam addressing the media on Wednesday, October 22, 2025 in Chennai. Photo credit: Special arrangement
Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister MRK Panneerselvam on Wednesday said that AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami is making false allegations against the state government in connection with procurement of rice at Direct Purchase Centers (DPCs).
Addressing the media at the Secretariat, Mr. Panneerselvam said that in the last four-and-a-half years, the DMK government has acted swiftly in matters related to the purchase of paddy fields. “Mr. Palaniswami asked why 2,000 bags of paddy per day cannot be procured at DPC. When he was chief minister, only 600 bags of paddy per day were procured. Currently, our government procures 1,000 bags per day through each DPC,” he said.
According to the minister, the procured paddy bags were safely stored in warehouses. Additional sheds have been set up under the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation for storage purposes. Due to the large volume of rice cultivation this year, measures were also taken to safely store rice bags in warehouses located on the premises of the sugar factory and in the warehouses of the marketing committees.
He insisted that sufficient staff should be deployed in the DPC to facilitate acquisition of paddy fields. Responding to a question about increasing the moisture content of paddy fields procured at DPC, the minister said the state government had already asked the Center to relax the permissible moisture content for procurement of paddy from 17% to 22%.
Published – 22 Oct 2025 19:22 IST
