3 months ago
1
The pencil slat manufacture successful Kerala, which has thrived for implicit 60 years, is presently grappling with a terrible earthy worldly situation that threatens its precise survival.
The Kerala State Pencil Slat Manufacturers’ Association has raised an urgent alarm, noting that the fig of operational units has plummeted from 250 to conscionable 150.
“As an manufacture that stands alongside accepted sectors similar coir and cashew, it presently generates an yearly turnover of ₹1,000 crore and supports the livelihoods of much than 70,000 workers, with astir 90% of the units concentrated successful Kollam district,” said relation leaders.
The situation stems from the scarcity of circumstantial softwoods from Vatta (Macaranga peltata) and Ilavu (silk fabric tree). They constituent retired that these taxon are scientifically the astir suitable for pencil accumulation and person made Kerala the superior supplier for nationalist giants similar Hindustan Pencils, Camlin, and Doms. However, manufacturers allege that the plywood manufacture is present aggressively outbidding them for these circumstantial timbers. “While plywood factories tin utilise much than 16 antithetic varieties of brushed and semi-hardwoods for their production, the pencil slat manufacture is restricted solely to Vatta and Ilavu, leaving america susceptible to marketplace contention we cannot sustain,” they said.
In airy of caller argumentation discussions regarding the Kerala Forest Rules 2021, the relation has formally requested the authorities to intervene. They constituent to a precedent acceptable for the matchbox industry, wherever the authorities excluded Pala and Perumaram from the database of timbers permitted for plywood usage to guarantee the endurance of matchstick manufacturers. The relation demands a akin protection, insisting that Vatta and Ilavu be removed from the database of implicit 25 timber categories presently allocated to the plywood sector.
Reclassification sought
Furthermore, the relation is seeking a reclassification of their units nether the projected amendments to the Regulation of Sawmill and Other Wood-based Industrial Units. They reason that since the superior machinery utilized for pencil slats is identical to that utilized successful sawmills and packing lawsuit manufacturing, their manufacture should beryllium integrated into the sawmill category. They besides fearfulness that allowing large-scale plywood units to usage these circumstantial timbers without a Forest NOC, a privilege primitively intended for rubber wood, volition pb to the full illness of the accepted pencil slat sector.
