20% more paddy procured: Minister

CHENNAI: Food Minister R Kamaraj on Wednesday said that 2,87,004 metric tonnes of paddy has been procured since March 24. With this, during the current year, so far 22.51 metric tonnes of paddy has been procured. “This is 20 per cent more than past years,” he added. The minister said this while reviewing functioning of his department.He also expressed confidence that six lakh metric tonnes of paddy would be procured during the current procurement year. He added, so far 3,76,606 farmers sold paddy through the Direct Procurement Centres and a whopping Rs 4,257.73 crore had been credited to bank accounts of the farmers.