Centre’s late order on fortified rice distribution delayed procurement says minister R Sakkarapani

MADURAI: The Union government’s delayed order on the distribution of fortified rice had affected the paddy procurement in the Delta region, and hence, there was stagnation of rice stocks in the DPCs, said the State Minister for Food R Sakkarapani on Wednesday.

Inspecting the DPCs in Thanjavur and Mayiladuthurai, the food minister said, the kuruvai cultivation has increased to 6.18 lakh acre this year against the usual 3.18 lakh acre, and the current procurement of paddy has reached 9 lakh MT so far, and this was 3.67 lakh MT last year by this time. Since there is a bumper harvest this year, triple the quantity of procurement has been done so far.

“As many as 4,000 lorries are being operated to transport the procured paddy to other districts, and 14 lakh gunny bags are available now, and another stock of 66 lakh gunny bags is on the way. There is no delay in transportation of paddy in the Delta districts, and based on the requirement, the number of lorries would be increased,” assured the minister.

Stating that the AIADMK government could procure only 800 bags per day in each DPC, the minister said that, in the fifth year, they had increased it to 1,000 bags per day. “But the DMK had started to procure 1,000 bags per day from the beginning,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sakkarapani said that the Union government had revised the norms for the distribution of fortified rice on July 29, 2025, and the information was received by the State government thereafter. Later, the union government floated a tender, and five contractors were involved in the distribution of the fortified rice with 1 per cent in every rice stock.

“The order was passed by the Cabinet only two days back, and Edappadi Palaniswami has been claiming that the order was received in August itself without knowing the difference between the Cabinet approval and the sanction order. Thus, the delay in releasing the order of distribution of fortified rice by the Union government had delayed the procurement of paddy in the Delta region, the minister said.