Thanks to the stringent measures initiated by the State government against illegal transportation and hoarding of rice meant for the Public Distribution System and the steps taken to eliminate bogus ration cards, a whopping 1.56 lakh metric tonnes of PDS rice has been saved over the past eight months.
This was revealed during a review meeting of the Food Department, chaired by Food Minister R Kamaraj, here on Wednesday.
The measures initiated during the renewal of family cards for the current year have also helped the Food Department save essential commodities worth `178 crore.
Further, a Civil Supplies unit set up at Pollachi to prevent illegal transportation of PDS rice to Kerala has also helped in the seizure of essential commodities, meant for distribution under the PDS, worth `4.92 lakh,
Further, 181 persons have been arrested under the Essential Commodities Act. As much as 79,090 quintals of PDS rice, 2,79,491 litres of kerosene and 17,150 cooking gas cylinders were seized.
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