CPM asks the Centre to withdraw decision on rubber import

Tuesday, January 01, 2002: CPM today asked the Centre to withdraw its decision to allow import of 40,000 tonnes of rubber with reduced import duty.

In a statement here, CPM state secretariat alleged the decision was meant to help the ”tyre lobby” and would break the backbone of rubber cultivators in the state.

The party said domestic rubber production had increased by 5.4 per cent in the initial period of the current fiscal compared to last year, while consumption had increased only by four per cent, the statement said.

In this context, the Centre’’s move to allow import by cutting down duty from 20 per cent to 7.5 per cent was ”absolutely unjustifiable”, it said.

The statement claimed the Centre was also reportedly considering the commerce ministry’’s proposal to allow import of one lakh tons of rubber without duty.

The country was already producing enough quantity to meet its requirements, but the Centre was trying to get rubber for tyre companies at cheaper rates through the import, the statement said.