Don't let paddy stocks rot, urges PMK President Anbumani

CHENNAI: PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss on Friday urged the State government to immediately move paddy bags piled up at Direct Procurement Centres (DPCs) to storage facilities and rice mills, warning that delays in procurement were causing severe hardship to farmers across the Cauvery Delta districts.

In a statement, Anbumani said that summer paddy cultivation was undertaken on around 1.6 lakh acres across Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai, Ariyalur, and other Cauvery-irrigated districts from April this year. While harvesting began in late June and more than half the cultivated area has already been harvested, procurement activities have reportedly been affected for over 10 days, he said.

Anbumani alleged that inadequate government planning was responsible for the situation. According to him, more than 800 procurement centres have been opened across the delta region, many of them in open spaces, with each centre holding between 15,000 and 20,000 paddy bags. He cautioned that any intensification of the southwest monsoon could damage the paddy stored in the open, leading to significant losses for farmers.

He also questioned why the government had failed to make alternative arrangements despite reports that warehouses were already full and rice mills were struggling to handle existing stocks. He said temporary storage facilities, including marriage halls, could have been utilised to prevent disruption in procurement.

Recalling losses suffered by farmers last year when paddy bags stored in the open were damaged by rains, Anbumani urged the government to act on a war footing. He called for the immediate transport of paddy bags from procurement centres to warehouses, and from warehouses to rice mills, to ensure uninterrupted procurement and protect farmers' interests.