The Tamil Nadu state government on saturday announced the Pongal bonus for the upcoming festival season. The bonus is expected to cost the exchequer Rs 272 crores. The official release from the government in this regard said that the employees belonging to groups C and D would get a bonus of Rs 3000 while the others would get Rs 1000. The pension holders would get an additional Rs 500. The other workers including village assistants, employees of Rural Development corporations, Anganwadi workers etc would get Rs 1000 each as bonus. Apparently the bonus packages will levy a huge burden of the treasury, but it would be a step in the right direction in the times of falling demand due to the financial crisis.