Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal has said that the State government has extended financial assistance to all families in the State in a time-bound manner for Onam.
Free Onam food kits have been distributed to around 90 lakh families and social security pension of ₹3,200 each has been disbursed to 60 lakh beneficiaries.
An Onam allowance of ₹1,000 each has been extended to 5.5 lakh workers falling under employment guarantee schemes and an ex gratia assistance of ₹2,000 each to workers of factories lying closed in the traditional sector.
The government released a bonus of ₹4,000 or festival allowance of ₹2,750 to each government employee and advanced them ₹15,000 for the festival season. The government also announced ₹1,000 as festival allowance to service pensioners, the Finance Minister said in a statement issued here on Wednesday.