Pongal bags at subsidised rates

Here’s some cheer this festive season for households in the city.

To battle escalating prices of essential commodities, Triplicane Urban Co-operative Society (TUCS) is offering Pongal bags at a subsidised rate.

TUCS will begin selling the bags from Friday at its 12 supermarkets and select fair-price shops across the city. The bag comprises seven essential items and is priced at Rs. 100, about Rs. 40 lesser than the MRP.

TUCS runs 255 fair price outlets in the city. The Pongal bag will have jaggery from Vellore, rice, moong dal, cardamom, cashew, raisins and ghee.

An official of TUCS said, vegetables too would be available at its outlets, 40 per cent cheaper than market rate. Sugarcane, priced above Rs. 35 per piece, would be on sale for Rs. 18 to Rs. 20, depending on size.

“We have prepared nearly 10,000 bags for the festive season and these will be available till Sunday,” the official said. This will help residents, who otherwise have to visit various shops to purchase different items, to buy everything under one roof at competitive rates, the official said.

Customers can also purchase branded essential commodities at rates that are 10 per cent to 25 per cent lower than market price, the official said.

Discount sales of branded items, which started in November last year, has increased the monthly turnover of TUCS by about 20 per cent.

TUCS is also gearing up to open one of the two petrol bunks planned in the city, this month. The new petrol bunk has been constructed on a 4,500 sq. ft. area on R.K. Shanmugam Salai in K.K. Nagar.

The society aims to provide unadulterated fuel in accurate measurements at its bunks. Work on the other petrol bunk in Periyar Nagar is yet to begin as the gas-cylinder godown on the premises has to be demolished.

At present, a Kamadhenu supermarket and the godown are housed on the 9,700 sq. ft. premises in Periyar Nagar.