Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister R. Vinoth inspecting the Direct Paddy Procurement Centre at Chozhanmaligai near Kumbakonam during a surprise visit.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare R. Vinoth inspected paddy procurement and storage facilities in the Kumbakonam municipality zone on Sunday. He directed the officials to open an additional open-air storage facility at Krishnapuram and take steps to prevent grain loss during the ongoing procurement season.
During surprise visits to the Patteeswaram Open Air Storage Centre, the Kumbakonam (Kottaiyur) Regulated Market and the Solzan Malligai Direct Paddy Procurement Centre (DPC), Mr. Vinoth reviewed storage capacity, procurement operations, and infrastructure requirements.
At the Patteeswaram Open Air Storage Centre, which has a storage capacity of 30,000 tonnes, the Minister said 25,000 tonnes of paddy had been stocked. As nearly three lakh tonnes of paddy was expected to be procured during the summer Kuruvai season, he directed the officials to prepare about 50 acres of municipality-owned land at Krishnapuram village as an additional storage facility.
Mr. Vinodh instructed officials to keep adequate workers on standby to cover paddy stacks during rainfall and expedite the process of securing land for a permanent storage godown at Thandanthotam.
At the procurement centre, he directed officials to ensure paddy brought by farmers was procured without delay and that sufficient tarpaulins were stocked to prevent rain damage. He called for steps to address software issues affecting the registration of first-time sellers.
Published – June 07, 2026 06:54 pm IST
