Family cardholders in Tamil Nadu to get Pongal gift hampers

CHENNAI: Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Saturday launched distribution of gift hampers containing essentials for Pongal festival -- one kg raw rice, one kg sugar, two feet of sugarcane, 20-gram cashew, 20-gram raisins, and five grams of cardamom, besides Rs 1,000 in cash.   Members of 10 families received these gift hampers from the Chief Minister at the Secretariat. 

While the essentials for Pongal festival would be distributed to around 2.02 crore families including those in Sri Lankan Tamil refugee camps,  cash support of Rs 1,000 would be given to 1.98 crore families, except those in Thiruvarur Assembly constituency where the model code is in force due to the by-election.

The family card holders should come to the ration shops with a cotton bag to get the Pongal gift hampers from January 7 onwards. To avoid the rush, each day, these gift hampers would be distributed to a particular section of the cardholders. Forgetting Rs 1,000, the smart cards would be registered with the e-POS machine at the ration shop. 

For the people who do not have the smart cards, the amount would be distributed using Aadhaar card or by sending a One Time Password to the mobile phones of the family card holders.