Tamil Nadu food and civil supplies minister P Venkataramanan
The govt will sell one lakh metric tonnes of fine-variety rice grown in Tamil Nadu at Rs 30 a kg through Amudham outlets and cooperative stores to provide relief to consumers. Tamil Nadu has 2.28 crore ration cards, and essential commodities are being supplied to cardholders without interruption, the minister said.
He said the govt had taken measures to prevent hoarding. We have deployed seven-member teams in every district to prevent hoarding,” the minister said while addressing reporters at secretariat on rising prices. The quantity supplied would be increased based on demand, he said.
“Hoarding of essential commodities tends to occur when prices rise. He accused the previous DMK govt of failing to heed public concerns over rising prices when it was in power. CHENNAI: Food and civil supplies minister P Venkataramanan on Thursday alleged that rice mill owners affiliated to certain political parties were hoarding rice amid a shortage of fine varieties sourced from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, pushing up prices.
I know the prices of essential commodities, unlike the DMK functionary,” he said, responding to Paranthaman’s open challenge to accompany him to grocery shops to check the rise in prices. Rejecting criticism from DMK legal wing joint state secretary I Paranthaman and other opposition leaders over his remark that there was no inflation, Venkataramanan accused them of selectively quoting his statement to target the govt. “I stood in line at ration shops to buy ration goods and grew up eating ration rice.