Date:12/11/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/11/12/stories/2007111259981700.htm

Business

Protest against shifting CEPC office to Kollam

Staff Reporter

KOCHI: Sebastian Paul, MP, has written to Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh that the move to shift the office of the Cashew Export Promotion Council (CEPC) in Kochi to Kollam is an attempt to “clandestinely dispose off the much valued property of the Council in Kochi.”

In the letter written to the Union Minister on Friday, Mr. Sebastian Paul said Kochi had a strategic position in terms of the cashew business and that there was a “legitimate” demand for setting up the headquarters of the proposed Cashew Board in Kochi.

The move by “certain vested interests” at this time to shift CEPC headquarters to a rented building in Kollam was “motivated and self-defeating,” said the letter.

Mr. Sebastian Paul requested the Union Minister to intervene and stall the move to shift the CEPC office to Kollam.

Meanwhile, the Kannur-based Kasuvandi Samrakshana Samithy has asked the Union Commerce Ministry to desist from the move to form a Cashew Development Board with Mumbai as headquarters.