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Everything you need to celebrate Pongal is here

PUDUCHERRY: Swarna raw rice from Andhra Pradesh, Mayuri from Karnataka, Ponni from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and double boiled rice from Kerala are among the 25 different kinds of rice available at the Puducherry Agro Products, Food and Civil Supplies Corporation’s (PAPSCO) Pongal Bazaar.

Different kinds of rice, including those for puttu, idly, biriyani, raw and boiled rice (they also have old and new rice), priced between Rs. 14.50 to Rs. 22 a kilo. are being sold at the bazaar

The 15th bazaar, which was inaugurated by Chief Minister N. Rangasamy on Friday, has 38 stalls selling just about everything that you need to celebrate the harvest festival. They have vegetables procured directly from farmers in Puducherry and from markets in Koyambedu, Hosur, Bangalore, Tiruchi and Panruti.

“Farmers in Puducherry raise beans, cauliflower and cabbage, and we went directly to them so that we would be able to do a good turn to both our customers and the farmers. The vegetable stall has all kinds of root vegetables, including ‘vethala velli kizhangu’, ‘siru karanai’, ‘pidi karanai’, ‘karanai kizhangu’ and ‘sakkara valli kizhangu’,” said R.G. Anbalaghan, Managing Director of PAPSCO.

You get sugarcane for Rs. 7.50 at the market, which is situated near the Rajiv Gandhi statue.

The sugarcane stalks have been procured from Thirukaattupalli and Sethiathopu. Jaggery is sold at Rs. 15.50 a kilo from Salem and Erode.

There are stalls for other household provisions, saris at affordable prices from Erode and Surat from PAPSCO. There are also stalls from PONTEX, PONFAB, Khadi and Amudasurabhi.

There are flowers from two nurseries, including Krishi Vigyan Kendra, books from the Puducherry Book Society, and Melmoware crockery at Rs. 199 a kilo.

For the employees, who will be working till the night of January 16, PAPSCO will be conducting a musical programme on the evening of January 16, and tug-of-war and musical chair events on Sunday morning.

“They will be given some kind of financial incentive at the end of it all. We wanted to provide some fun for our staff as well,” Mr. Anbalaghan added.

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