Coir Board urges PC to allot Rs 1350 for 11th plan

Puducherry, Dec 26(UNI) The Coir Board today urged the Planning Commission(PC) to earmark Rs 1350 crore for it in the eleventh five year plan for the implementation of various schemes evolved by it, Board Chairman and former Parliament member A C Jose said here.

Talking to newspersons here, on the sidelines of a seminar on feasible project of coir in Puducherry, he said that Rs 600 crore had been allocated fore the board in the tenth plan period and the amount be raised to Rs.1350 crore, since the augumentation of technology alone needed about Rs 35 crore in the next five years.

Stating that there is a good scope for the development of coir industry in Puducherry, MrJose said the board had approved to fund a scheme to regenerate traditional industries and Rs one crore would be provided to Puducherry to ensure the development of various traditional industries, including coir industry through cluster approach.

Such cluster approach scheme had been proposed for sevberal others states also including Tamil Nadu and Kerala, he added.

Mr Jose said an insurance cover would be available for the workers under which a sum of Rs 50,000 would be made available to the family in case of the death of the worker. In case of a worker becoming partially disabled, a compensation of Rs 25,000 would be given, he added.

He also said the two upgraded Looms called 'Anugraha and Anupam' had been developed by the Central Coir Research Institute, which would enable the workers to produce coir-based products without strain adding that a product enhanced welfare scheme and a health insurance scheme for workers had also been evolved by the board.

UNI PAB KVV 1805