TN govt to distribute priceless saree and dhoti before Jan 10

CHENNAI: The State government has planned to complete the distribution of ‘priceless’ saree and dhotis to ration card holders for Pongal before January 10.

A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister M K Stalin at the secretariat on Saturday. The meeting reviewed the preparations for distributing priceless saree and veshtis to ration card holders in the state for Pongal.

The Chief Minster also inspected the new saree and veshti designs to be introduced by the state handloom department this year. The state government is understood to have changed the design of the saree and veshtis distributed under the scheme after a decade.

About 15 new saree and five veshti designs are being introduced this year for the scheme for which the government has allocated Rs 243 crore.

An estimated 1.8 crore men and women each would benefit from the scheme. State public works department minister E V Velu and state handloom minister R Gandhi also participated in the review during which the government also discussed the dispatch of saree and veshti consignment to all districts.