Call to restart fruits, vegetable exports from Calicut Airport 

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Fruits and vegetable exporters are agitated over the delay in issuing Nipah-free certification to Calicut International Airport by the Kerala Government after the virus was brought under control.

The exporters along with two Parliament members from Kozhikode urged the State government to issue Nipah free certificate to the airport which would help re-start the shipments that was disrupted following the outbreak the virus in September. They pointed out that the authorities have issued Nipah-free certificates to Kochi and Kannur airports after the easing of the restrictions for exports.

Impending crisis

MK Raghavan, MP from Kozhikode has sent a letter to the State Industries Minister P Rajeeve seeking his intervention in the matter. He urged the Minister to help avert an impending crisis being faced by farmers, traders and those working in the export sector. According to him, it was an unjustified discrimination against Calicut Airport for not issuing Nipah free certification especially when the Kannur airport which is close to the virus outbreak area has been given such certification.

Another Parliament member, Abdussamad Samadani, in a message to the State Health Minister Veena George said the absence of Nipah free certificate to the airport could make overseas buyers to look at other destinations for their shipments. It is pointed out that around 50 tonnes of fruits and vegetables were shipped through Calicut Airport on a daily basis.

Currently, shippers are depending on Kochi airport for getting required clearance certificates which, according to the exporters fraternity, is time-consuming and leading to cancellation of export orders.

The Calicut Airport authorities have also taken up the matter with the Principal Secretary, requesting him to issue Nipah-free certification at par with Kochi and Kannur airports. The exporters are having seasonal additional orders due to the ensuing festivals which are also likely to be affected due to the non-declaration of Calicut Airport as Nipah-free. The outbound cargo is mainly sourced from the border districts of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.