Many ration shops in the district witnessed long queues of people on Tuesday to receive Pongal gift hampers and ₹1000 in cash announced by the State government.
To avoid heavy crowd and untoward incidents, ration cards were staggered into a group of 250 to 300 based on card numbers. Notices were put up at the ration shops so as to inform the ration cardholders the date on which they were required to collect the Pongal gift hampers. However, brushing aside the system, enthusiastic cardholders thronged in large number at various ration shops to receive the gift hampers. As per the instruction by the senior officials, the beneficiaries were distributed two ₹500 denomination notes. In some places, policemen were posted to regulate the crowd.
“We do not know about others. But, the gift hampers and cash will be of immense help for the poor people like me and daily wage labourers to celebrate the Pongal,” says S. Rajam (75), who waited in a long queue at a ration shop at Bheema Nagar.
Special flying squads formed by Collector K. Rajamani, who is the monitoring officer of the Pongal gift distribution drive, visited various parts of the district to monitor the distribution.
He told The Hindu that 7.95 lakh ration cardholders in the district would be given the Pongal gifts. A sum of ₹80 crore had been released for the distribution in the district. Elaborate arrangements have been made to distribute the gifts in 1222 ration shops in the district.
He said the distribution was closely monitored to avoid confusion and complaints Flying squad headed by Deputy Collectors and Tashildars had been instructed to carry out continuous check. Ration shop employees should give no room for complaints.
K.C. Ravichandran, Joint Registrar of Cooperatives, Tiruchi district, said that nearly 2 lakh cardholders were distributed the gifts on the fist two days of distribution on Monday and Tuesday. The moment the cardholders received the gifts, they would receive transaction messages on their smart and Adhar card linked mobile phones. The distribution would continue up to January 14.
