Palaniswami gave away the masks to five people at the Secretariat marking the inauguration of the first phase of the scheme, which would witness distribution tobeneficiaries through ration shops.

The initial phase envisages distribution of 4.44 crore reusable masks -bought at a cost of Rs 30.07 crore- to 69.09 lakh families in town panchayats, municipalities and corporations barring the Greater Chennai Corporation, an official release said. According to the GCC, about 45 lakh masks have already been distributed here.

The Chief Minister had recently announced distribution of quality reusable masks to all ration card holders inthe state as part of measures to fight the pandemic. 

There are 2.08 crore ration cards that covers a total of 6.74 croreindividuals, who are part of the families of the card holders and theplan is to distribute two masks for each member of a family.