Chennai, Jan 1 (IANS) Tamil Nadu welcomed the New Year with prayers and revelry as people thronged temples, beaches and hotels, burst crackers and wished each other at midnight. The government Saturday launched a scheme giving freebies to the poor.
Stepping into the election year, the ruling DMK government started 2011 with the distribution of free ‘pongal bags’, sarees and ‘dhothis’.
Each pongal bag contains half-a-kg each of raw rice and jaggery, green dal 100 gram, cashew 10 gram and five gram each of raisins and cardamom. These are ingredients used to make ‘chakk arai pongal’ (a sweet dish) during the Pongal festival held mid-January.
The pongal bags will be distributed to 1.94 crore ration card holders while the sarees and ‘dhothis’ will be given to all the poor.
Inaugurating the scheme here Saturday, Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi said the schemes of free distribution will not impact the state’s economy.
In the morning Saturday, temples across the state witnessed huge crowds. Special prayers were conducted.
The New Year eve saw hotels across the category doing brisk business.
‘All our tables were sold out. We had special buffet and menu in our restaurants,’ Suresh Thampy, executive chef, Courtyard Marriott Hotel, told IANS.
