Form department, demand plantations in Kerala

Kochi: The plantation industry in Kerala has demanded that the government set up a department to address the issues the sector faces.

"We employ about three lakh people and more than 15 lakh people live on the industry," said Association of Plantation of Kerala (APK) president C. Vinayaraghavan.

At present, the labour ministry is the nodal ministry and the labour commissioner the nodal officer as the basic law that governs the industry is the Plantation Labour Act.

"However, the labour is not the only matter the industry is concerned with. We have issues related to land use, agricultural patterns, technology, environment and weather change, in which the labour department has little interest."

The plantation sector includes tea, rubber, cardamom, pepper and coffee. At the centre, the plantation sector comes under the commerce ministry, which has a director for plantations.

There are also respective boards to promote the sector. However, at the state level, there is no department which exclusively looks into the affairs of the sector.

Mr Vinayaraghavan said the government must set up a well-defined mechanism to address the issues the industry faces. He pointed out that sectors which employed lesser number of workers such as coir and cashew have separate departments.

"The plantation sector is the single largest sector that employs a lot of people, that too in the rural areas. It is the only industry which takes care of the social costs of its workers such as shelter, education, healthcare and civic amenities. The industry has been demanding for quite some time that the government came forward and shared the burden," he said.

Former Rubber Board chairman and former Tamil Nadu additional chief secretary P. C. Cyriac, however, said a new department with no administrative or regulatory powers would not help the industry.

"If the government is serious about solving their problems, they can do with the existing mechanism," he said.