Kochi: The government move to popularise the health drink ‘neera’ is yet to succeed with the excise department going slow in granting licence and marking coconut palms for tapping. Of the 173 coconut producers federations that applied for licence, 156 are yet to get it. Even in the case of the 17 that got the licence, marking of palms by the excise department is progressing only at a snail’s pace.
In the meantime, the neera point at Vytilla Mobility Hub, here, remained the only outlet for the public to have the drink in the state. Palakkad Coconut Producer Company Ltd supplies neera to the Hub outlet.
When contacted, Coconut Development Board chairman T.K. Jose told Deccan Chronicle that neera was being supplied to the Hub outlet through a continuous cold storage chain and only a limited quantity could be carried so. But the company has plans to bring out neera in bottles and pouches with shelf-life of three to four months in room temperature and upto one year in refrigerated conditions.
Mr Jose said that at least 10,000 litres of neera a day was required to get a plant going. In all 12 plants are to be launched for producing the drink across the state. The excise department, meanwhile, attributed the delay in marking the palms to staff shortage. This was happening in the state when neighbouring Karnataka has already started marketing neera.
K. Krishnankutty, a coconut farmer at Kuttiyadi in Kozhikode told DC that the farmers were an upset lot due to the lethargic manner in which the excise department was undertaking the palm marking job. “We fear that companies from outside state will take advantage of the situation,” he said.
