Chennai, Aug 29 (IANS): The Tamil Nadu government has decided to source dhotis and sarees for Old Age Pension (OAP) beneficiaries entirely from handloom and pedal looms.

Under the Chief Minister‘s Uzhavur Pathukappu Thittam (Old Age Pension), 1,38,494 beneficiaries are provided Rs 1,000 per month. One dhoti is provided to a male beneficiary and one saree to the woman beneficiary during Pongal.

With this order, the government aims to provide employment to handloom and pedal loom weavers. Earlier, the entire orders of free dhotis and sarees for Pongal were issued for power looms only.

The Stalin government had given the order for manufacturing the free Pongal gifts of 2025, including dhotis and sarees worth crores of rupees entirely to the power loom weavers. The government has already allocated an amount of Rs 100 crore for the procurement of dhotis and sarees for Pongal.

Generally, the state government procures dhotis and sarees for Pongal from both power loom weavers and handloom weavers.

In 2023, about 50 lakh dhotis and sarees were sourced from handloom and pedal looms for Pongal distribution. A senior official with the Tamil Nadu government while speaking to IANS said that the decision to source the entire Pongal orders from power looms was taken considering the time and cost factors.

It may be recalled that Principal Secretary of Handlooms, Handicrafts, Textiles and Khadi Department, Dharmendra Pratap Yadav, in a government order said, “Based on the demands of the revenue department, the target has been set to produce 1,77,64,476 sarees and 1,77,22,995 dhotis for the current year. Eligible beneficiaries and production target will be finalised soon.”

In 2023, a total of 1.73 crore dhotis and sarees were produced for Pongal and in the current year, the government has increased the number to 1.77 crore each.

The tender for procurement of yarn for Pongal will be opened on Friday and the entire process of awarding tenders will be finalised in the first week of September.