The Kerala Congress on Saturday took out a march seeking action from the part of both the State and the Centre to resuscitate the ailing rubber sector. The march, which began from Kaduthuruthy and ended at Kottayam, was led by the party’s executive chairman Mons Joseph, MLA.
Leader of the Opposition V. D. Satheesan inaugurated the valedictory session of the march. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Satheesan criticized the Centre and the State for neglecting the pressing concerns of rubber farmers and emphasised their lack of interest in imposing safeguard duties to control the rubber imports.
Mr. Satheesan further highlighted the failure of the LDF government in fulfilling its electoral promise to provide ₹250 per kg for rubber. He also accused the LDF government of derailing the Rubber Price Incentive Scheme, introduced by the previous UDF government
“Despite allocating funds in the previous two State Budgets, the farmers have yet to receive the subsidies under this scheme,” noted Mr. Satheesan.
“While around 8.5 lakh farmers applied for the subsidy in the previous financial year, only 32,000 were able to submit their applications this time’’, he added.
Kerala Congress chairman P. J. Joseph chaired the meeting. Kerala Congress leaders P. C. Thomas, Joy Abraham, Mons Joseph, Thomas Unniyadan, K. Francis George and others also spoke.
The march which began from Kaduthuruthy from Saturday morning covered 30 kms to reach Thirunakkara by the evening. The UDF followers accorded receptions to the march at various locations.
