He told a press conference here that government would stop collecting donations to the fund on July 31.

He said the state stood first in the collection of funds for the Kargil victims families.

The amount collected would be handed over to Prime Minister A B Vajpayee soon, he said adding that with the Centre's permission, the state would retain a portion of the collections to help Kargil victims from Tamil Nadu.

He said Tamil Nadu stood first in collecting funds during Bangladesh war in 1971. The state had then collected Rs six crore, which was handed over to the then prime minister Indira Gandhi at a meeting here, he said.