Pongal gift hamper: Stalin chairs meeting with ministers, bureaucrats

CHENNAI: As Pongal festival is barely a month away, Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin has chaired a meeting with ministers and bureaucrats to discuss the distribution of gift hampers for ration cards.

Since too many items in the hamper given last year turned out to be of inferior quality, the government is keen on providing quality items this time. Under these circumstances, it has been decided not to give cashews, dry fruits, jaggery and other items that was given last year. The meeting is to discuss what are all the items that could be added to Rs 1000 cash, raw rice and sugar.

In the meeting, the members were divided in their opinion on the means to provide the cash amount. Some suggested that barring a few thousands ration card holders, all have bank accounts and have linked their Aadhaar numbers so it is better to credit the amount to bank account, whereas other opined providing liquid cash would be of use to the common public and it can be directly monitored.

The items that would be provided for ration cards and the means to provide the cash amount would be finalised in the meeting. An official announcement on the same is expected to be made today or tomorrow.

Ministers Periyakaruppan, Sakkarapani and Principal Secretary Cooperation, Food and consumer protection Radhakrishnan were present in the meeting.