As the crisis that has engulfed rubber plantations continues to deepen, the State government’s initiative to guarantee growers a minimum of ₹170 a kg of natural rubber appears to be losing its way due to the delay in verifying the applications.
As per estimates by an association of rubber producers’ societies, over one lakh bills pertaining to the Rubber Production Incentive Scheme (RPIS) are awaiting clearance by the Rubber Board. While farmers have submitted the bills from rubber dealers to the rubber producers’ society (RPS) units in their respective areas, the delay in clearance is attributed to a shortage of field officers in the Rubber Board.
For instance, the board has just three field officers for the Changanassery region, which extends across the vast area from Mallappally in Pathanamthitta to Vaikom in Kottayam. Similarly, the agency has deployed just a single officer for Kanjirappally — the rubber heartland. The RPS units from regions such as Palakkad and Manjeri too have flagged similar concerns.
