PDS staff mobbed for Pongal tokens

VELLORE: A salesperson at a fair price shop Yogeswari nearly fainted after she was suffocated by a huge crowd of women, who descended on the shop seeking tokens for the government announced Pongal gift on Tuesday.

Though the Cooperative Department had ordered that the salespersons should distribute the tokens to individual cardholders directly, the salesperson of the shop in Kottamedu in Vellore’s Salavanpet area decided to take a short cut by asking all cardholders attached to her shop to collect the tokens in person at the shop.

But, she was totally unprepared for the huge number of women who turned up and soon there was total confusion as they clambered into all vantage positions to make their voices heard and collect the tokens. Soon Yogeswari was unable to handle the crowd and suffered from breathlessness seeing which the crowd dispersed not wanting to be blamed.

When a reporter reached the spot, she said she was still feeling breathless after the incident.