After Kalaignar television sets, now it’s Amma table-top wet grinders that have made it to Ongole in a big way.
One of many freebies of the Jayalalithaa government in Tamil Nadu, the wet grinders are up for grabs, as they come at a dirt cheap price here. People of Ongole wait for the lorries from Chennai and other places in the neighbouring State that unload the grinders in the busy Bhagyanagar and other areas every day.
“It is being offer at just Rs. 1,300 per piece,” a delighted housewife Prema said.
The wet grinder also comes with a two year warranty, says another woman Laitha.
No wet grinder is priced less than Rs. 3000 in the local market, adds Lakshmi, happy over the deal clinched with the saleswoman from the neighbouring State who was counting her gains. In Tamil Nadu, the easy-to-operate electrical appliances are given free of cost to ration card holders along with mixie and electric fan.
With nuclear family being the order of the day, several families have more than one table top wet grinder in their homes unpacked, says another woman beneficiary who has come all the way from Gummudipoondi in Tamil Nadu to market the sleek machines neatly packed as part of “Amma package”.
The television sets distributed free of cost by former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunandhi on the eve of elections had also made it to several homes and tea shops here.