The Collector has permitted setting up of ‘neera’ stalls at 12 places inside Dindigul and Palani town areas. The natural beverage has found favour among the public in the harsh summer.
Stalls will be put up at Gopalasamuthram walkers ground, Round Road, RM Colony park built under Amrut project, District Collectorate and park on Silvathur Road, in Dindigul.
In Palani, stalls will be set up inside Taluk office compound, government hospital, Dhandayuthapani Swamy Temple premises, bus stand, Railway Feeder Road, Palaniandavar college campus and Rana Kaliamman Road junction.
A glass of ‘neera’ is priced at ₹15.
“I sell about 35 litres of the drink in the morning and 25 litres in the evening. Fresh batches of the beverage arrive from Batlagundu in freezer box. For every litre I sell, I get ₹20 as income,” said S. Velankanni, a vendor at the District Collectorate.
“Sales during summer is good, as more people are taking to the drink,” he added.
“The shelf-life of the product is only a day. If kept in freezer, it may stay good for two days, after which it starts fermenting. Neera is good for health, as it is a natural coolant, cures ulcers and kidney stones,” said S. Murugesan, chairman, Dindigul Coconut Producer Company, Batlagundu.
“We tap 150 to 170 litres of ‘neera’ every day from farms in Palani, Batlagundu, Ayyampalayam, Athoor and Nilakottai, which are then sent to the designated vending spots. We supply to a neera stall in Uzhavar Sandhai at Anna Nagar in Madurai, apart from a few places in Erode,” he said.
Mr. Murugesan added that there was labour shortage due to which the natural resource remained under-tapped. “There are only a few men who are trained in the process of tapping neera. We have currently employed four from Kerala. Earlier this year, we submitted a plea to the Coconut Development Board, Chennai, to impart training to more people, so that they get a livelihood option.”
An official from the Department of Agricultural Marketing and Agri Business in Dindigul district said the district stood fourth, after Coimbatore, Tirupur and Thanjavur, in terms of coconut production in the State.
“In order to encourage farmers and benefit consumers, we have been working on promoting sales of value-added coconut products. Apart from ‘neera’, we will be recommending permission for coconut products in future,” the official added.
