Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 21, 2008
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Online edition of India's National Newspaper Monday, Apr 21, 2008 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version |
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Tamil Nadu
Reason: shortage of husk and inadequate workforce Coir Board has taken up the issue with Government POLLACHI: More than 400-coir extraction units in and around the coconut town of Pollachi have been passing through a rough patch for the past couple of months. Reason: shortage of husk, the main raw material and inadequate workforce. The price of husk, the primary raw material to extract fibre and pith which used as a soil conditioner in foreign countries, has gone up manifold in the recent months. According to industry sources, the price of 1,000 husks has doubled to Rs. 300 from Rs. 150 two months ago. Coir Board Vice-Chairman C.M. Kamaraj blamed gasifiers for the price rise. “Middlemen buy husks for gasifier units that generate electricity. The gasifiers can very well use wood and other biomass wastes to generate electricity. By taking away the husk, these units cause irreparable loss to coir industry,” he said. Mr. Kamaraj said the gasifier units can buy the husk by giving Rs. 300 per 1000 husks as they sell electricity to Tamil Nadu Electricity Board. But the coir industry, which operates on thin margin could not afford to compete with the gasifier units, he argued. The non-availability of husk reduces coir fibre production as well as pith blocks. “The country will eventually lose foreign exchange as the value added coir products and pith have largely been exported. Besides, thousands of workers would lose employment,” Mr. Kamaraj remarked. Apart from gasifier units, the dyeing and bleaching units of Tirupur have recently started to use husk for their boilers. These led to close down of more than 100 units from extracting coir fibre around Pollachi. If the situation continues, the impact would be more, noted another coir pith exporter. As local workers lured by the hosiery units of Tirupur and other manufacturing units of Coimbatore, the coir factories have been dependent on workers from Orissa and Bihar for recent months. The workers have gone to their native to celebrate Holi and are expected to return after one or two months. The Coir Board has taken up the issue with the State Government following which it issued orders banning burning of husk by gasifier and other units.
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