Oppn walks out over crisis in coir sector

Thiruvananthapuram: The opposition staged a walkout from the assembly on Wednesday protesting against the government’s alleged neglect of the coir sector. Coir minister Thomas Isaac, however, tried to blunt the criticism by pointing out the increase in allocations to the sector.
Raising the issue in the house, former coir minister Adoor Prakash MLA said: “The government has failed to ensure procurement of raw coconut husk. It has not been able to prevent middlemen routing husks from Kerala to Tamil Nadu and then bringing them back as fibre, which they sell off to coir societies here at exorbitant rates. Though the LDF government claims to have taken steps for increasing the wages to Rs 350, the workers haven’t yet received the revised pay.”

Stating that the allegations were baseless, Isaac said: “The UDF government spent Rs 12.45 crore under the income support scheme in 2015-16, while the LDF government has spent Rs 15 crore till January this year. In total, Rs 23 crore would be spent this fiscal. The LDF government has increased the wages from Rs 300 to Rs 350, and it has been aiming to increase it to above Rs 500. An agreement has been signed with the Netherlands for manufacturing coconut pith boards. Mechanical and electronic intervention would bring sweeping changes in the sector.” tnn