Thiruvananthapuram | As Onam festival is round the corner, the Kerala government on Saturday granted Rs 24.04 crore to provide festival allowance to the nearly 45,000 agents and sellers of the state lottery.

An amount of Rs 6,000 each was granted to the members of the Kerala State Lottery Agents and Sellers Welfare Fund Board, Finance Minister K N Balagopal said.

The pensioners of the Board would get Rs 2,000 each as the festival allowance, he said in a statement.

As many as 38,000 active members and 6,223 pensioners would benefit the new announcement and Rs 24.04 crore has been granted for the same, he added.

The Left government on Friday announced Onam festival allowance for workers of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and the Ayyankali Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme who have completed 100 working days.

Balagopal had said all the workers who completed 100 working days under the schemes would get Rs 1,000 as festival allowance on the occasion of Onam.

The Finance Department sanctioned Rs 46 crore for this purpose, he had said adding that a total of 4.6 lakh people would be provided the allowance.