Chennai, Dec 19 (BPNS)
The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin has chaired a meeting of ministers and bureaucrats to decide on the materials to be included in the Pongal gift hampers. Pongal, the biggest festival of Tamil Nadu commences on January 15th and ends on January 18th.
The state government had drawn flak over the inclusion of materials of inferior quality in the Pongal gift hampers. The government is mulling excluding materials like dry fruits, cashew, jaggery, and other materials that were perishable in the gift hampers. Complaints were raised during the last Pongal period when gift hampers were filled with some materials that were of inferior quality.
The government will be including raw rice, sugar, and Rs 1000 in cash and the meeting is yet to decide on the other materials to be included in the hamper. Some officials who are participating in the meeting told the Chief Minister that except for a few people a large number of people have bank accounts and that Rs 1000 could be transferred directly to their accounts. However, some officials negated the idea and said that including Rs 1000 as liquid cash in the Pongal gift hampers was more useful to the public and that it could be monitored properly.
The state government will be finalizing the matter today or tomorrow and an official announcement will be given by tomorrow on the content of the gift hampers.
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