97% ration cardholders receive Pongal gifts

CHENNAI: With the supply of Pongal gift hampers to 2.12 crore PDS rice cardholders, the civil supplies department has distributed the gifts to 97.3% beneficiaries till Saturday. Each cardholder was supplied one kg raw rice, one kg sugar, one stalk of sugarcane and Rs 1,000 cash.

“Distribution of gift hampers began on January 9. Of the 2,19,33,342 eligible cardholders, 2,12,82,586 received the benefits till January 14,” said a civil supplies official. Due to glitches in the server, beneficiary identity could not be verified through biometric credentials at several places. “Hence, gift hampers were supplied after verifying the QR code imprinted on the ration card,” added the official.

Incidentally, the procurement of groceries and sugarcane and distribution of cash was completed without any complaint from beneficiaries, said official sources. Last year, the distribution of Pongal gift hampers, comprising 21 grocery items in each, triggered controversy after it was alleged that low-quality jaggery was supplied. Sugarcane procurement too drew flak from farmers owing to the involvement of brokers.

This year, however, the food and cooperation department tasked district collectors with monitoring the procurement of sugarcane directly from farmers. The farmers were paid Rs 33 per stalk and the cash was transferred to their bank accounts through ECS.  

“High-quality raw rice was procured from National Consumer Cooperative Federation (NCCF). Both sugar and raw rice were supplied to 35,000 PDS shops by January 5. Detailed written guidelines for procurement and distribution of sugarcane also prevented complaints against the distribution of gift hampers,” said an official. The government had sanctioned Rs 2,429.05 crore for Pongal gifts.