Pongal gift hampers will be distributed to ration rice card holders from January 4.
Collector Kavitha Ramu said in a release that the gift hampers would be distributed to 4.83 lakh ration card holders, including families residing in Sri Lankan Tamil refugees rehabilitation camps. The hampers would have 21 grocery items, including raw rice (1 kg), jaggery (1 kg), cashewnut (50 gm), dry grapes (50 gm), ghee (100 ml), salt (1/2 kg), wheat flour (1 kg), a sugarcane, besides a cloth bag.
Any member of a family whose name figures in the ration card could get the hampers from the ration shops. A Staggering System would be followed to streamline distribution of gift hampers based on number of ration cards street-wise, so as to prevent crowding and to follow COVID-19 safety protocol. About 150 to 200 gift hampers would be distributed every day.
Tokens would be issued to card holders mentioning the date and time of distribution, in the case of ration shops with more than 750 card holders. The details would be on display at the ration shops.
The ration shops would function on January 7 (Friday), and in lieu of it January 15 (Saturday) had been declared a holiday. At the ration shops, priority would be given to persons with disabilities, and there will be separate queues for men and women.
Field-level officials and salespersons had been instructed to open the ration shops on time so facilitate distribution of the gift hampers to all so that nobody was left out. Officials had been nominated in every taluk to monitor the distribution.
Those who could not receive the gift hampers before Pongal could get them after the festival. Complaints regarding distribution of gift hampers could be conveyed to the District Supply and Consumer Protection Officer on mobile number 94450 00311 or the Special Tahsildar (Flying Squad) on 94450 45622.
