2.6 lakh receive Pongal gift hampers on Day 1

Coimbatore/Salem: More than 2.6 lakh people, roughly 25 % of the eligible ration cardholders, received the state government’s Pongal gift hamper on Monday, the first day of the distribution, in Coimbatore district.
Like many other districts, Coimbatore also witnessed initial hiccups in the distribution in the form of technical snags. They were sorted out after a short while, and distribution of hampers resumed.
According to officials at the office of the joint registrar of cooperative societies in Coimbatore, 10,58,256 are eligible for Pongal gift hampers in the district to be distributed through 1,400-odd ration shops. They would receive a hamper containing one kg of rice, one kg of sugar, one whole sugarcane and 1,000 cash.
To avoid overcrowding at the ration shops, officials have been distributing tokens to cardholders over the past few days, allotting a specific date and time to collect the hampers.
For every ration shop, 200 tokens would be accommodated every day. While mayor Kalpana Anandakumar kickstarted the Pongal gift hamper distribution to the cardholders at the ration shops in wards 19, 20, and 30 in the city, the public started queueing up in the ration shops in the morning.
However, several ration shops in the district witnessed server issues while recording the biometric data of cardholders on Monday, soon after the distribution of Pongal gift hampers to beneficiaries began. Ration shops at Periyanaickenpalayam, No. 4 Veerapandi, and Gudalur faced online server issues, delaying the biometric reading process. The beneficiaries can receive the Pongal hamper only if biometrics are recorded in the devices at the shops. Officials said they resolved the issues immediately and distributed the hampers. More than 2.66 lakh cardholders received the hampers on Day 1. After kickstarting the gift hamper distribution In Tirupur, district collector S Vineeth appealed to the cardholders to maintain physical distancing while they wait in the queue to prevent Covid-19 spread. Salem corporation mayor A Ramachandran inaugurated the Pongal hamper distribution at a PDS shop in Kannankurichi on Monday.
Salem district collector S Karmegam said a total of 10.74 lakh cardholders, including 10.73 lakh regular cardholders and 939 Sri Lankan refugees, will get the Pongal hampers in the district “The state government allotted 118.98 crore for this for the district,” he said.