IDUKKI:
Spices Board on Saturday held e-auction of small cardamom at Puttady Spice Park, where the operations were temporarily suspended for technical maintenance and upgrades.
Though the maintenance work is yet to be completed, one e-auction will be held every week at the Puttady’s Park till the maintenance work is completed, said Dr A Jayatilak, Chairman, Spices Board, dispelling rumours that the facility has been shifted to Tamil Nadu.
“Such rumours have literally left the small cardamom farmers in a state of bewilderment. And it’s because of such fake news doing rounds that we decided to conduct e-auction, every week,” Dr Jayatilak said. He urged the farmers not to fall in such traps and ensured that the maintenance works and technical upgrades are progressing at a fast pace.
Lauding the decision of the Spices Board, Joyichan Kannamundam , president of the Cardamom Growers Association, Vandanmedu , said that those spreading rumours that the e – auction centre has been shifted to Tamil Nadu are purely led by vested interests. Though the maintenance operations are underway, everything had gone smooth while conducting the e-auction, he added.
The Spices Board has conducted test trials for the last two weeks with the help of its employees as well as students and ensured that the auction would be conducted in an error-free manner. At the Puttady facility, the e-auctions were held through 70 terminals.
As the maintenance got underway, cardamom e-auctions at Puttady have to be temporarily shifted to a centre at Bodinayakanur in Tamil Nadu to prevent disruption of the trade and help the farmers. The Spices Board has made available the live streaming of e-auction at the Puttady Electronic Centre through its website to garner more stakeholders.
The maintenance operations and technical upgrades are being done under the supervision of the Spices Board.
