PDS rice smuggling and hoarding will be prevented, says T.N. Civil Supplies Minister

Steps will be taken to prevent hoarding and smuggling of public distribution system (PDS) rice, said Minister for Food and Civil Supplies P. Venkataramanan in Krishnagiri district on Sunday.The Minister inspected the social justice hostel at Rajaji Nagar in Krishnagiri and interacted with the students regarding the facilities and the quality of food provided to them.

He also visited ration shops in Krishnagiri and Hosur, and inspected the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation (TNCSC) godown at Thinnur. Later, he told reporters that inspections were conducted based on the complaints received about weight shortages of goods supplied to ration shops from the TNCSC godowns in Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, and Hosur.The Minister said that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C.

Joseph Vijay has instructed the PDS outlets to distribute essential items for the whole month. There are 57 rice mills in Krishnagiri region, and inspections are under way to ensure paddy procured from Thanjavur and Nagapattinam districts reaches these mills through lorries or wagons, the Minister added.Regarding steps to curb PDS rice hoarding and smuggling to nearby States, the Minister said that 240 vehicles involved in PDS rice smuggling were seized in the past in Krishnagiri district.

The district and Civil Supplies CID police were taking steps to curb the smuggling and hoarding of PDS rice. At the inter-State borders there are various department checkposts. The Chief Minister has instructed to convert these checkposts into integrated checkposts.

Steps would be taken to open integrated checkposts at the borders in the coming days.The Chief Minister, on July 7, inaugurated the distribution of 73,000 new ration cards, and till date 20,000 cards were distributed through the district administrations. In the coming years, ration cards would be sent through postal department.

About 96% of fingerprint registration and biometric e-KYC verification for all family members listed in the ration cards have been completed. In the future, biometric face recognition would be implemented, he said. Published - July 26, 2026 07:31 pm IST Read Comments Copy link Email Facebook Twitter Telegram LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit READ LATER SEE ALL Remove Related Topics Salem