Timber merchants in Kallai seek relaxation in rules

It is now mandatory to have a yard to store wood

Timber merchants operating on the banks of Kallai river have urged the government to relax the procedure to apply for property mark registration licence.

It is mandatory for timber merchants to apply for the registration certificate from the divisional forest office to continue in business. To get the certificate, the merchants should keep the timber in their own yard and there should be facility to transport the wood.

T.K. Sivaraman, general secretary, Kozhikode Timber Merchants Association, said here on Thursday that the merchants along the Kallai river had been traditionally keeping the timber in the river. “The saline water in the river enhanced the quality of the wood and our product had a high demand in the market. Now, it is mandatory to have a yard to store it. Most of the merchants in Kallai do not have the facility,” he said.

Mr. Sivaraman said that till the 70s, the government had exempted them from the rule to have a timber yard to store the wood. A certificate issued by the traditional ‘mooppans’ was all that required to renew the licence. In 2014, however, the Forest Conservation Act was modified and the licensing system was tightened.

Mr. Sivaraman claimed that because of the restrictions on the timber trade, the number of merchants doing business had come down drastically. “There were 500 merchants having property mark registration in the region in 1975. It has come down to less than 50 in 2016-17.” There were around 80 big saw mills in Kallai, Puthiyapalam, Mankavu, and Puthiyara. There are hardly 12 mills in the area now, he says. Also, the traders were supposed to renew the licence once in five years earlier. Now, they are supposed to do it every year.

The merchants should also register themselves with the Commercial Taxes Department for paying Central Sales Tax and Value Added Tax and a get a Tax Identification Number. They should get a storage licence and D&O licence from the city corporation too. The merchants claim that it was difficult to satisfy all these conditions.