Chennai: Trucks carrying essential commodities meant for distribution to the public will soon come under surveillance of the state government.
The Tamil Nadu government has proposed to install GPS devices on the vehicles carrying the essentials and also CCTVs will be installed at the godowns, State Food and Civil Supplies Minister R. Kamaraj has informed.
“About Rs 20 crore will be spent to fix GPS devices on the lorries transporting the essential commodities from the TN Civil Supplies Godowns to the fair price shops across the State.
Also, CCTVs will be installed at the TNCS godowns with an aim to contain pilferage and to ensure the ration cardholders receive the right quantity of rice, wheat and other essentials,” Mr Kamaraj said on Monday.
Winding up the debate on the demand for grants for his department in the Assembly, he said a modern control room would be set up to facilitate effective monitoring of the commodities.
He also announced constructing building for 25 direct paddy procurement centres at a cost of Rs 12 crore for the benefit of the Cauvery Delta farmers and said another Rs 12 crore would be spent to provide drying yards at 100 paddy procurements centres in the Cauvery Delta districts.
Additional godowns with 1,000 tonne capacity each would be established at a cost of Rs 1.5 crore each at Edappadi block in Salem district and Bodinayakanur block in Theni district. Tamil Nadu has been implementing the Centre’s Food Safety Act since November 2016.
