TNCSC opens automated DPC on pilot basis in Thanjavur district

Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation inaugurates high-efficiency Direct Procurement Centre for automated paddy procurement, benefiting farmers.

Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation has set up a mega Direct Procurement Centre at Panchanathikottai hamlet in Orathanadu Taluk in Thanjavur district on a pilot basis. The high efficiency DPC has been established at a cost of ₹1.41 crore.{

Inaugurating the DPC on Saturday (March 29), Food and Civil Supplies Minister R. Sakkarapani said that usually around 1,000 bags of paddy, each weighing 40 kg, were being procured at a DPC per day. At the new MDPC, where the entire process of paddy procurement had been automated, a total of 4,000 paddy bags could be procured a day.

The paddy brought by farmers using tractor-trailers would be loaded in the collection box through a conveyor system and winnowed before weighing and packaging paddy in gunny bags of 40 kg each. The stitched paddy bags would be loaded directly on lorries for transportation to godowns/transit yards.

Stating that the machinery installed at the DPC had the capacity to handle 15 tonnes of paddy per hour, the Minister said the new system of paddy procurement would relieve the farmers from the hassle of scouting for gunny bags for winnowing and measuring paddy at the DPCs. The initiative would be expanded to other parts of the State after ascertaining its advantages and disadvantages.