The ruling Dravida Munnnetra Kazhagam (DMK) will continue to provide freebies till the poor exist in the State, party president and Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi said here on Saturday.
Inaugurating the distribution of bags containing ingredients necessary for sweet ‘pongal' free to holders of family cards and distribution of dhotis and saris to people below the poverty line at a function in Pallavaram near here, Mr. Karunanidhi said sections of the print media criticised the government for its policy of providing freebies to the poor.
Pointing out that the print media did bring out free supplements, the Chief Minister said the criticism by the media was not about freebies but about the ruling party. The scheme of distribution of dhotis and saris, launched in 1990 during the previous DMK regime, was discontinued later.
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However, when the DMK came back to power, the scheme was revived.
Explaining the importance of the scheme for the weaving community, the Chief Minister said the scheme provided employment to 11,000 handloom weavers of 217 handloom weavers' cooperative societies and 40,000 powerloom weavers of 121 powerloom weavers' cooperative societies. A total of 1.59 crore saris and 1.58 crore dhoties would be distributed this year, he added.
Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Chief Minister M. K. Stalin said the State government implemented several welfare schemes for the benefit of poor and downtrodden.
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Among those who took part in the function were Ministers I. Periasami, E.V.Velu and T.M.Anbarasan, Congress deputy leader in the Assembly D. Yasodha, Chief Secretary S. Malathi and Principal Secretaries in charge of Revenue and Food, V.K. Jeyakodi and Swaran Singh.