A huge stock of salt manufactured in Thoothukudi has piled up as trucks bound for Karnataka, the major market for the salt produced here, remained off road following uneasy calm prevailing in the neighbouring State over the Cauvery water issue.
This had made the manufacturers face a loss, G. Grahadurai, president, Tuticorin Small-Scale Salt Manufacturers’ Association, told The Hindu here on Wednesday.
A.R.A.S. Dhanabalan, secretary’of the Association, said though salt production had achieved a robust growth this year, its market prospects were not encouraging. Last year, the production came down by 50 per cent following unseasonal rains. But, the production touched 70 per cent of the total potential this year with a month remaining for the end of the season.
As export trade suffered a blow and continued a down trend over the last few years owing to the quality of salt, the producers had been relying mainly on internal markets such as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, he said.
M.S.P. Thenraja, president, Tuticorin Salt Traders’ Association, said,over the last four days truck operators showed reluctance to transport consignments of salt to Karnataka, fearing attacks by Kannadigas. On a daily average, 50 trucks of 16- tonne capacity each would be engaged in transporting salt to Karnataka, he added.
M. S. A. Peter Jebaraj, president, Gandhi-Irwin Salt Manufacturers’ Association, said the last hope of retaining the market potential in Karnataka was fading. A considerable volume of salt would normally be transported to Bengaluru, Mandiya and Mysuru.
S. Varadharajan, secretary, Tuticorin District Container Truck Owners’ Association, said around 400 to 500 trucks from Thoothukudi would normally transport goods in bulk such as salt, polypropylene granules and containerised cargoes, which included wooden logs and industrial products, to Karnataka.
Usually, a sizeable volume of containerised cargo would be moved to Whitefield in Bengaluru. Since the trucks carrying goods to Maharashtra and other areas had no alternative to passing through Karnataka, the cargo movement was hit.