Farmers elated as Tiruchy gets covered godown

TIRUCHY: Ecstatic over the newly opened covered godowns to store paddy procured by the TNCSC, farmers said that it would minimise the risk of paddy damage due to natural calamities.

Chief Minister MK Stalin inaugurated 106 covered godowns across the State to facilitate the storage of 1.42 lakh MT paddy. Around 70 such godowns were opened in the central districts like Tiruchy, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Pudukkottai and Ariyalur via video conferencing.

Farmers expressed satisfaction over the arrangement which they had been demanding for several years. “Since the absence of proper flooring and roofs, the procured paddy that used to be stored in an open space would get damaged due to natural calamities. We had been demanding a godown like this for several years to prevent that,” said Saminathan, Thanjavur district secretary of TN Cauvery Farmers Protection Association.

Saminathan recalled a recent fire that had damaged around 1,000 bags of paddy in an open air godown. “The replacement of the open air godown with concrete flooring and roofing would ensure safety of the crop,” he added.

In Thanjavur, it was proposed to establish godowns with a capacity of 58,000 MT paddy storage at Pillayarpatti, Sennampatti and Thittakudi near Pattukkottai.

On Saturday, the facility was opened facility to store 31,000 MT paddy capacity at Pillayarpatti.

While in Tiruchy district, the facility to store 6,200 MT paddy capacity was opened at Adavathur in the outskirts of Tiruchy.