Jayalalitha announces Rs 318 crore Pongal gift

Gifts will include Rs100 cash, one kg each of rice and sugar and a two-foot-long sugarcane stalk

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha on Wednesday announced Rs 100 cash, one kg each of rice and sugar and a two-foot-long sugarcane stalk would be distributed to 1.91 crore ration card holders in the state to celebrate Pongal - the harvest festival, adding the project would cost the state government Rs.318 crore.

In a statement issued here Jayalalitha said the gift will be given to those ration card holders eligible to get rice, Sri Lankan Tamils staying in refugee camps and police personnel with ration cards.

The Pongal gift hampers would be distributed through ration shops ahead of the January 15 festival, she said.