Chennai: Even as TVK govt announced a series of measures to increase storage capacity at direct procurement centres (DPC) in the state on Thursday, DMK and TVK locked horns over corruption in DPCs.The issue started when food minister P Venkataramanan, in his reply to the debate on demand for grants, said farmers were demanded Rs 50 as a bribe to procure one quintal of paddy at the DPCs during the previous DMK govt.DMK MLAs objected to the remark, alleging that farmers are demanded bribe under TVK administration. “When the minister (Venkataramanan) went for inspection at the DPCs, farmers had complained that this still exists. The minister should accept that bribes are still collected in TVK govt or the remarks should be expunged,” Chezhian said. Venkataramanan responded that action was taken against those who were indulging in receiving bribes during his inspection.Later, Venkatramanan announced that 15 warehouses with a total capacity of 31,000 tonnes will be constructed in 13 districts for storing food grains. The warehouses will be built by Tamil Nadu civil supplies corporation at an estimated cost of Rs 81 crore.The food minister also announced that three modern warehouses will be constructed in Ariyalur, Namakkal and Mettupalayam at an estimated cost of Rs 13.5 crore. The three warehouses together will have the combined storage capacity of 3,400 tonnes.The state govt will introduce an automatic stock monitoring system in all the warehouses maintained by TN civil supplies corporation using artificial intelligence (AI). The food and civil supplies department will also develop an AI-based mobile app to ensure that food grains supplied through PDS shops are of good quality, he said.
