Longest
doormat - world record set by Travancore Cocotuft Ltd
CHERTHALA, Kerala, India -- The mat made at Travancore
Cocotuft (P) Ltd factory measures 101.6 meters (333.3ft)
in length, 1.2 meters (4ft) in width, is 30mm thick and weighs
999 kg , setting the world record for the Longest
doormat.
The Longest
doormat is an outcome of four-month effort of four
workers consuming 470,000 coir tufts, inserted between alternate
wefts of coir yarn.
Total cost of this, 101.6 meters long, 1.2 meters
wide and 30 mm thick mat, is over Rs 400,000. "Although the coir industry is faced
with a plethora of problems, including scarcity of raw materials
and shortage of trained man power, largely resulting from
migration of workers to the more lucrative construction sector,
our mission was to draw the attention of the authorities to
this crisis-ridden traditional (coir) sector," said P.
Mahadevan, CEO of the company.
The Longest
doormat was formally released during the inauguration
of the golden jubilee celebrations of the Central Coir Research
Institute (CCRI) of the Coir Board. The two-day event was
inaugurated by Union Minster of State for Micro, Small and
Medium Enterprises Dinsha Patel Thursday.
The Longest
doormat is an idea of Mr. Mahadevan, inspired by Alappuzha
BDS project of SIDBI executed by Cluster Pulse.
The Longest
doormat will be exhibited at the Buckingham Palace
and will also be presented before President Ms. Pratibha Patil,
and finally, be offered to the Coir Museum, he informed.
The coir industry in Kerala has a history
that spans over a century and employs in excess of 1.5 lakh
weavers and spinners numbering four lakhs in the state.
Lack of modernisation in the industry and a stiff
rise in wages of workers have resulted in only 50 percent
of coconut husks being used in the coir industry, while the
rest is being used as fuel in rural areas.
