KOTTAYAM: The drastic reduction in the Union Budget allocation for the Rubber Board has disappointed the board as well as the rubber growers who have been badly hit by the plunging rubber prices.
The budget allocation for the board has been reduced from Rs 201 crore to Rs 132 crore which will hit the various developmental projects being carried out by the board, say senior officials.
“This will limit the activities of the board to the distribution of salary. No welfare schemes, including subsidies, can be taken up,” said a senior official.
Mr E.P. Mathew, a small-scale rubber farmer who grows three acres of rubber, says that the reduction in the budget allocation was a bolt from the blue.
“The decision will compel many rubber growers to stop cultivating the crop. Many are not replanting due to lack of subsidy,” said Mr Mathew, who is also the secretary of the Aruvikuzhy rubber production society.
