Tamil Nadu Government to Add 100 Paddy Procurement Centres and 150 PDS Shops with Face Authentication

The Tamil Nadu government will expand and modernise its paddy procurement and public distribution infrastructure by establishing 100 new Direct Paddy Procurement Centres (DPCs) and 15 warehouses, Food and Civil Supplies Minister P Venkataramanan informed the Assembly on Thursday.

The government will also introduce several technology-driven systems to improve quality control, supply-chain monitoring and transparency in the Public Distribution System (PDS).

100 New Direct Paddy Procurement Centres

Responding to the debate on grant demands, Minister P Venkataramanan said the addition of 100 new DPCs would increase the total number of Direct Paddy Procurement Centres in Tamil Nadu to 889.

Each new centre will be equipped with essential infrastructure, including approach roads, drinking water facilities, toilets, weighbridges and moisture meters. The 100 DPCs will be established at an estimated cost of Rs. 81 crore through the Rural Development Department.

15 New Warehouses in 13 Districts

The government will construct 15 warehouses with a combined storage capacity of 31,000 metric tonnes across 13 districts. The project will cost around Rs. 81.60 crore.

The districts covered under the warehouse expansion are:

- Chengalpattu
- Pudukkottai
- Karur
- Coimbatore
- Tenkasi
- Kallakurichi
- Tirunelveli
- Namakkal
- Thanjavur
- Salem
- Cuddalore
- Kancheepuram
- Sivaganga

In addition, worker rest rooms will be established at 10 Tamil Nadu State Warehousing Corporation complexes at a cost of Rs. 1.89 crore. A toilet-equipped facility will also be provided at Batlagundu, while a compound wall will be constructed at Ariyalur.

AI-Based App to Check Food Quality

As part of the department`s digital modernisation efforts, an AI-based mobile application will be developed at a cost of Rs. 1 crore. The application will help assess the quality of essential commodities such as rice, wheat, tur dal and sugar.

The move is aimed at strengthening quality control and improving the monitoring of food commodities distributed through the PDS.

150 New Fair-Price Shops

The Tamil Nadu government will also establish 150 new fair-price shops by bifurcating existing outlets that serve more than 1,500 ration cards.

To improve access for elderly and differently abled beneficiaries who face difficulties with fingerprint or iris authentication, face-authentication-enabled Point of Sale (PoS) machines will be introduced in 150 fair-price shops.

The face-authentication system will be implemented at a total cost of Rs. 59 lakh.

Unified Monitoring Portal and QR-Based Tracking

The departmenent will develop a Unified Monitoring Web Portal to integrate the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation, Commissionerate of Civil Supplies, Registrar of Cooperative Societies and Civil Supplies CID.

The portal will facilitate data sharing, real-time monitoring and better coordination among the departments and agencies involved in the public distribution system.

The government will also introduce QR-code tagging of rice bags to enable traceability from rice mills to fair-price shops. In addition, GIS mapping and vehicle-location tracking will be used to strengthen supply-chain monitoring and improve transparency in the distribution network.