Paddy DPCs to function without break in TN: Minister

The direct purchase centres (DPCs) for procurement of paddy in Tamil Nadu, usually shut during this month for maintenance work, will remain open in view of fall in the crop's price in the market, state Food Minister R Kamaraj said Sunday.

Instructions had been issued to officials to ensure that the DPCs procured paddy from the farmers without any break, he told reporters here.

He said that accepting an appeal by farmers, Chief Minister K Palaniswami had instructed that the DPCs should function continuously.

"The practice is to shut centres every year in the month of September for maintenance. But this year, there is a need to keep it open because the price of paddy has seen a decrease in the market," Kamaraj said.

Direct purchase centres are opened every year, generally throughout the state, especially in the Cauvery delta districts, to directly procure paddy from farmers.