Union Minister for Commerce Anand Sharma has assured of steps by the Centre to solve the shortage of coir fibre in the State, accentuated by the export of the fibre from Tamil Nadu to China, K.C. Venugopal, MP, has said.
In a statement here on Saturday, Mr. Venugopal said a delegation including State Coir and Cooperation Minister G. Sudhakaran and himself, had met Mr. Sharma at New Delhi earlier this week to discuss the situation. Mr. Sharma, according to Mr. Venugopal, has assured to hold talks with the Tamil Nadu government on controlling the export of coir fibre from that State.
The Kerala delegation pointed out that functioning of the coir industry in the State had literally come to a halt due to the shortage of coir fibre. Unemployment and in some areas, starvation too, was getting severe due to the crisis, the delegation informed the Union Minister who in turn responded that the Centre’s stance was that value-added coir products should be exported instead of raw material.
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