He told reporters here that the state had a stock of 6.24 lakh tonnes of rice. Besides procuring 1.2 lakh tonnes during the kuruvai and samba harvest seasons, the government had resorted to monopoly procurement this year, he said, adding that last year, the state had adopted the parallel procurement system.

He said over 70 lorry loads of rice was arriving in the city from Karnataka daily.

Over 20 lakh bogus ration cards had been detected during distribution of new ration cards. More than 16.55 lakh persons had applied for ration cards, he said.

He said already 1.41 crore cards had been distributed. Over 16 lakh cards remained to be distributed in various districts.

He said all 14 offices of assistant commissioners of civil supplies in the city would be computerised at a cost of Rs 2.5 crore. This would help inrushing essential commodities to over 1,800 fair price shops in the city, he added.