KPCC President V.M. Sudheeran has opined that the Centre is trying to destroy the rubber market in Kerala. He made the comment while inaugurating a meeting of rubber farmers organised by the Karshaka Congress. The Congress party president, who is convalescing from a knee injury, inaugurated the event through phone from his hospital bed.
Sudheeran said that even though there are provisions to cancel import of rubber, the central government is not ready for it and is penalising farmers in the state. He claimed that the quantity of rubber already imported by the BJP government is double of what the UPA government had imported in 10 years. Similarly, outlay on rubber research has been reduced by the central government.
The Rubber Board does not have a chairman, secretary, commissioner or board members for the past one year, he accused. Saying that the Rubber Board has become rudderless, Sudheeran said that the Congress would organise protests in support of rubber farmers if the situation prevails.
The meeting was presided by Karshaka Congress State President Lal Varghese Kalpakavadi.