Toddy tapping gazette triggers uproar countrywide
Sri Lanka’s toddy tapping sector is embroiled in a controversy over the recent gazette notification on Excise Amendment Bill which indicated the imposition of a ban on tapping of coconut and palmyrah trees with effect from Janaury1 2018.
This gazette caused a flutter among those engaged in the industry in the North and South and has sparked widespread confusion among those communities, provincial correspondents said.
Finance and Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera was quick to respond by convening a meeting of top officials and directed them to rectify the situation by creating awareness on the ministry directive to regulate the industry and combat illicit toddy racket and resort to a licensing process.
The decision to license toddy tapping, came on a cabinet proposal by the minister to bring back the tapping and drawing of toddy from coconut, kithul and palmyrah trees into the licensing system by amending Section 15 of the Excise Ordinance (Chapter 52). It was approved by the cabinet on October 11.
However the gazette notification issued on October 24, which was exclusively reported by the Business Times on October 29 (Sunday), had no reference whatsoever on the re-introduction of a toddy licensing system. It said that “no tree producing toddy, other than kithul tree shall be tapped”. The report which quoted amendments to the Excise (Amendment) Act, No. of 2017 and coming into operation on January 1, 2018, further said, “No toddy shall be drawn or lowered from any tree other than the kithul tree.”
But this week another page which says: “Statement of legal effect Clause 2: This clause amends section 15 of the Excise Ordinance (Chapter 52), and the legal effect of the section as amended is to include the requirement of obtaining a license for tapping any palmyrah tree and coconut tree which produces toddy” was inserted in this same bill dated October 27 appearing on the website of the Department of Government Printing.
While the earlier gazette/bill appeared to be a faux pas by some officials at the Finance Ministry, the corrected gazette/bill was even worse, as it doesn’t amend Section 15 of the old Act to allow licensing. Some legal observers also expressed the view that while it may be legal to make such changes on an already issued bill, the errors mislead the public and implies unprofessionalism amongst some officials in rushing to make public a bill that was half-d0ne.
In an effort to remedy the situation, the Finance Ministry on Tuesday issues a media release stating that toddy tapping from coconut and palmyrah trees have been brought under license with an amendment proposed to Section 15 of the Excise Ordinance (Chapter 52). Cabinet approval has been granted for the amendment.
As concerns grew, EPDP Leader Douglas Devananda, acting on behalf of the Northern toddy tapping community, sent a letter to the President saying that this action of the government will affect the livelihoods of 18,000 families in the province.
He urged the president to take necessary action to remove the ban on palmyrah tree tapping for toddy and other related regulations as it will greatly affect the aged old traditional toddy industry in the area.
It is learnt that D.M. Swaminathan, Minister of Rehabilitation, Resettlement & Hindu Religious Affairs, will be submitting a proposal to the cabinet for the rectification of the gazette notification as the Palmyrah Development Board come under his purview. Thereafter the licensing provisions would be issued in a fresh gazette by the Finance Ministry.
According to the new amendment, no toddy can be drawn or lowered from coconut or palmyra trees without a license issued by the Department of Excise or by the respective Divisional Secretaries, the Finance Ministry said.
However, toddy tapping from kithul tree is to be exempted from the provision of the licensing.
Though a license was required for toddy tapping under the Excise Ordinance it was later amended in 2013 by exempting kithul, palmyrah and coconut trees from the licensing system.
As a result the Department of Excise had faced difficulties in monitoring the volume of liquor produced from toddy by distilleries for the purpose of collecting excise duty.
There are around 80,000 toddy tappers of palmyrah or coconut trees across the countries who are members of the Consumer Cooperative Society Federation.
The proposed license fee under the new amendment will be Rs.50 per tree a senior treasury official said adding that in the 2016 budget, the government had increased the annual license fee of a toddy bottling plant to Rs. 1 million from Rs 200,000, a huge jump, and to Rs. 100,000 from Rs. 25,000 on toddy collecting centres.
The re-introduction of licensing will trigger widespread protests and agitation, a member of the federation said.