Kerala - Alappuzha   

Bureaucrats blamed for delays

ALAPPUZHA: Accusing bureaucrats of delaying several schemes and projects initiated by the government, Coir Minister G. Sudhakaran on Friday said stern action would be taken against any official found dillydallying with schemes that were aimed at uplifting the coir sector and its workers.

Inaugurating a training programme for coir workers being organised by the Kerala State Coir Corporation (KSCC) in association with the National Coir Research and Management Institute (NCRMI), Mr. Sudhakaran said bureaucrats should not delay projects by raising trivial technical issues, which would prevent government schemes from reaching the poor workers.

Requesting trade unions to desist from calling for strikes over unnecessary issues and to take the initiative to do away with the depot/intermediary system that was fleecing small scale coir manufacturing units, the Minister said he would directly lead the Government’s proposed crackdown on such depots.

Informing that the draft report on the recently launched Coir Census had reached him and that it was being examined, Mr. Sudhakaran said the Government was also progressing on its steps to register coir from the State as a brand under the name ‘Kerala Coir, the Golden Yarn from God’s Own Country’.

The Government, which had set aside Rs.8 crore for revamping and restructuring CoirFed, the apex body of cooperative societies in the coir sector, had also provided the KSCC with Rs.7 crore for implementation of the Purchase Price Stabilization Scheme.

KSSC chairman G. Venugopal said the training programme was aimed at upgrading the manufacturing skills of workers in the coir sector. He said the programme would prevent several traditional coir products such as Morzouk carpets and coir fenders from being pushed into oblivion.

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Bureaucrats blamed for delays

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