People crowd PDS counters for ₹2,000 dole

People crowd PDS counters for ₹2,000 dole

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

16.05.2021 

Long queues and crowds were the highlights of the government’s distribution of ₹2,000 Covid-19 relief to family card holders in the state which kicked off on Saturday, raising questions about the method chosen for handing over the dole when the pandemic is raging. However finance minister P T R Palanivel Thiagarajan said the government wanted to hand over the relief as early as possible.

In Kannankurichi town panchayat in Salem district, hundreds of DMK cadres surrounded Salem MP S R Parthiban, Salem (north) MLA R Rajendran and district collector S A Raman when they handed over the money to beneficiaries. “Was this an event to distribute the dole or spread Covid-19,” asked BJP state treasurer S R Sekhar who also pointed out that at several places card holders gathered without maintaining social distance.

Questions have been asked whether the government couldn’t have deposited the amount in the card holder’s bank account as in the case of central government schemes. Finance minister P T R Palanivel Thiagarajan said in Madurai there had been suggestions about giving the assistance in some other way. ``But it would have taken time, and we know there are problems with the Aadhaar system. This was the way in which it could be done in the fastest mode,’’ he said.

Citing macro economic theory, the minister, who is Madurai central MLA, said people’s money should rightfully reach them when there is a need. ``Tamil Nadu has seen many outstanding chief ministers, and chief minister M K Stalin is proving that he is as good and even better by swinging into action as soon as he assumed office,’’ he said President of Tamil Nadu Makkal Urimai Katchi (TNMUK) Poomozhi appealed to the chief minister not to resort to such a blunder while distributing grocery kits to card holders, supposed to start on June 3.

Meanwhile, an official release said the distribution of Covid relief from PDS outlets will be held on Sunday too. Cardholders who received tokens could collect the amount between 8am and 12noon.

Minister for Commercial Taxes P Moorthy distributed the dole in Chettikulam and said that as many as 8.99 lakh people will benefit from the scheme in Madurai district. Food and civil supplies minister R Sakkarapani launched the distribution in Coimbatore. He said there were as many as 10.18 lakh card holders in the district out of which about 2.17 lakh received it. As many as 1.78 lakh of the 8.1 lakh card holders in Trichy district were given the aid on the first day.

INVITING DANGER: DMK workers surround MP S R Parthiban in Salem on Saturday to collect the ₹2,000 dole