With just over a week to go for the State government to present its annual Budget, the derailed Rubber Price Incentive Scheme (RPIS) is finally getting back on track. The operation of the website ebt.kerala.gov.in has been restored after a gap of over 50 days, enabling the small-scale rubber growers in Kerala to file their claims for the price guaranteed by the State government.
“The National Informatics Centre (NIC) has said that errors on the website have been deleted and the site is currently functional. Hence, it is requested to take steps to upload the bills on the site. If any difficulties or errors occur, please let us know,’’ read an official intimation received by the growers from the Finance department, Government of Kerala, on Sunday.
1.70 lakh applications
In 2023, the website opened the window for uploading the bills only in October, three months behind schedule, and on December 6, it suspended the operations citing technical issues. As per estimates, only about 1.70 lakh applications for incentives to the tune of ₹9.75 crore could be filed during this brief period when the website had been functional.
Of this, only 47,999 were forwarded to the State government after verification while not even a single rupee has been released on this account till date. While the State government has now restored the RPIS scheme, concern still lingers over a shortage of field officers with the Rubber Board to verify and clear the bills uploaded through the Rubber Producers Societies (RPS).
Submitting bills
Under the RPIS, the government provides rubber growers with the difference between ₹170, which is the guaranteed price, and the actual market price. To claim the amount, which is credited to the bank accounts of growers through the Rubber Board, the growers are required to submit bills from the rubber dealers to the RPS. The field officers of the Rubber Board will then verify and upload these bills on the State government’s website.
Rubber Board sources, meanwhile, say the RPIS is putting excess burden on the agency in the absence of fresh recruitments. The overall staff strength of the board, which stood at 1,649 in 2019, has come down to 905 in 2023, they pointed out.
