Question : DOWNSIZING COIR BOARD

(a) whether the Government proposes to down-size the Coir-Board;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) the reasons therefore; and

(d) the present status of the said proposal?

MINISTER OF SMALL SCALE INDUSTRIES & AGRO AND RURAL INDUSTRIES (SHRI MAHABIR PRASAD)

(a)to(d)

(i) The Expenditure Reforms Commission (ERC) in its Report No. 4 dated 20th September, 2000,had recommended that (a)Showrooms-cum- Sales Depots of the Coir Board should be progressively handed over, on agency or commission basis, to trading houses, with the exception of a few showrooms in metropolitan towns, which might be retained for demonstration purposes; and (b) the Hindustan Coir Factory should also be privatized or handed over to a Cooperative. Recommendations of the Expenditure Reforms Commission were accepted `in principle` by the Government.

(ii) Later, the Administrative Staff College of India, (ASCI), Hyderabad, which, which was entrusted with a study on `The Role, Objectives and Structure of the Coir Board, in line with the recommendations of the ERC`, has also endorsed the said recommendations of the ERC.

(iii)With a view to enabling the Government to take a final decision on the recommendations of the ERC, the matter was considered in a meeting of the Coir Board. The recommendations of the Coir Board were last considered in the Ministry on 2nd September, 2004 and the Coir Board was requested to furnish an Action Taken Report thereon. This is awaited from the Coir Board.

The Action Taken Report would be considered and final decisions would be taken by the Government after consulting various stakeholders in the process.