₹3,000 cash, rice, sugar and more: Tamil Nadu govt begins Pongal gift distribution

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Thursday launched the distribution of a ₹3,000 Pongal cash gift along with a special festival package for rice category ration cardholders, marking the simultaneous rollout of cash assistance and gift hampers through fair price shops across the state.

The initiative is aimed at helping people celebrate the mid-January harvest festival of Pongal in a grand manner, the Chief Minister said.

Stalin personally distributed the benefits at a fair price shop in Alandur, where he handed over ₹3,000 in cash along with one kg of raw rice, one kg of sugar, a sugarcane, a dhoti and a saree to select beneficiaries.

The Pongal gift scheme will benefit around 2.22 crore rice category ration cardholders, in addition to families residing in Sri Lankan rehabilitation camps across Tamil Nadu.

For the scheme, the state government has allocated ₹6,936 crore exclusively towards the cash assistance component, while an additional ₹248.66 crore has been set aside for the procurement and distribution of the gift items.

The state Food and Civil Supplies department had distributed tokens through the FP shops specifying the time of distribution, which has commenced from today.

State Ministers K R Periyakaruppan, R Sakkarapani, Ma Subramanian, T M Anbarasan, and senior officials participated.

Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, who launched the distribution in the Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni Assembly Constituency, said the entire process of distributing the cash and gift hampers would be completed in four or five days.

Pongal is one of the most popular festival in India, especially in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, etc. The harvest festival began on Monday, January 14, to mark the arrival of harvest season.

The Pongal festival is dedicated to the sun god, who plays a crucial role in agriculture. It is celebrated in many ways in different states including Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, etc.