Members of the Kongunadu Arunthathiyar Munnetra Peravai on Monday submitted a petition to Collector M. Karunagaran alleging that the rice meant for Public Distribution System is being diverted to feed emus in farms.
In his petition, P. Elangovan, State general secretary, said that he had learnt from friends who were emu farm owners that they managed to source rice from various PDS outlets in and around Annur and use the same as feed.
The diversion happened in a brazen manner that the farm owners had openly discussed the issue at their recent meeting and also discussed ways and means to source rice.
He later told reporters that every emu farm owner sourced around four to five bags of rice a month and that there were around 15 farms in the area. The diversion resulted in PDS outlet employees denying rice to card holders.
When card holders approached the staff they were being told that there was not enough stock at the shops and that all rice had been distributed. The employees also told the card holders that the government only despatched insufficient quantity.
This should be probed, he had said in his petition. The district officials promised to look into the complaint.
