The Hindu : Kerala / Kozhikode News : Small-scale timber traders seek protection

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Monday, Jul 07, 2008
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Kerala

Kerala - Kozhikode

Small-scale timber traders seek protection

Staff Reporter

Kozhikode: The Kozhikode Timber Merchants’ Association has demanded that any decision on the “lorry turn system” for transporting timber should protect small-scale merchants.

T.O. Sooraj, Director of Industries and Commerce, is studying the problems arising out the system and will submit a report. Under the system, the merchants do not have the right to choose the vehicle to transport their goods. Each lorry has to wait for its turn to ply.

P.V. Lakshmanan, general secretary of the association, has submitted a memorandum to Mr. Karim on the problems.

The associations says requisitions for timber from places such as Mumbai and Pune are on the decline as industries there found it more expensive than transporting timber from Mangalore when factoring in the timber and transport costs.

This has helped the merchants of Mangalore. The worst affected are the small-scale merchants, those who send only one or two loads a month.

Old system helpful

The old system of sending timber through brokers in Kallai after fixing the rate with the lorry owners’ organisations had been helpful.

When a dispute arose, the merchants could resolve it through talks with the brokers and the organisations. The association had called a hartal against the turn system in the past.

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