The AIADMK coordinator, O. Panneerselvam, on Wednesday highlighted reports of irregularities in the functioning of the public distribution system (PDS).
In a statement, Mr. Panneerselvam referred to instances of people getting SMS on their mobile phones, even for commodities that they had not obtained from fair price shops. The commodities, wrongly billed against ration cardholders, were said to have been sold in the black market, as a result of which the exchequer incurred a huge loss. Also, when the commodities were sent from godowns of the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation to the fair price shops, there were cases of under-weighing, forcing officials of the shops to indulge in irregularities. If this was set right, the government would stand to gain crores of revenue and the people, their entitlements in right quantities, Mr. Panneerselvam added, calling upon Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to intervene immediately.
Meanwhile, the party co-coordinator, Edappadi K. Palaniswami, while campaigning in Maduravoyal, complained that the Chief Minister was using the government machinery for his personal work. Stalin was a “lover of publicity,” without doing any follow up on his official work, he said. In Tambaram, he wondered why Udhayanidhi Stalin, the DMK’s youth wing leader, did not get the “magic remedy” work for obtaining exemption for the State from the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).
