Kerala CM to meet PM Modi

He will be accompanied by Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan

A team comprising of chief minister Oommen Chandy and Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan will soon meet the Prime minister Narendra Modi to explain the crisis being faced by rubber farmers in the state on falling price of the commodity.

The decision was taken at a meeting with the representatives of various farmer organisations held at Thiruvananthapuram.

In the meeting, it was decided to increase the production of rubberised bitumen from the present 8,000 tonne to 50,000 tonne used in the construction of rubberised roads.

The need for rubberised tarring in the entire country would be brought to the notice of the central government. It is a matter of protest that the Central Government has not taken into consideration the persistent request of the state to include rubber as a farming commodity, the meeting discussed.

The meeting chaired by the chief minister also decided to formulate a new package for rubber re-plantation.

It raised the need to increase the subsidy for re-plantation from Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000 per hectare besides hiking the import duty on rubber to 25 per cent from 20 per cent now.

The team would also raise the need of an independent market for rubber wood. The need to call a confederation of rubber producing countries by India will be stressed, it added.

The rubber price has fallen from Rs 240 to Rs 114/Kg, recently. Rubber import should be banned temporarily. Finance miister Minister K.M Mani and Irrigation PJ Joseph also attended the meeting.