THOOTHUKUDI: A palmyra tapper at Salaipudur village near Sathankulam has installed a spiralling steel staircase around a 55-foot-tall palmyra tree to carry out his daily work with ease and safety.
The 70-year-old tree has remained untapped for more than 10 years due to its height, large girth and slippery surface despite being a fantastic yielder of palm juice (pathaneer). J Dhinagaraj (36) said his father V Jesudasan (70) used to climb on the same tree twice or thrice in a day with an eight-litre container tied around his waist to hold tapped ‘pathaneer’. “The tree used to yield over 20 litres of palm juice per day, while other trees yield half of it normally. This tree alone fetches a remuneration of over Rs 1 lakh during the season,” he said.
Dhinagaraj added that his father stopped climbing the tree as its trunk became large and slippery. He decided to install the staircase of galvanized steel pipes to tap the juice during the yielding seasons between February and September. A metal strip fastens the staircase to the tree so as to avoid hammering nails on the tree trunk. “The metal strips are tightened at a gap of eight inches. The staircase has 48 steps. No nails were hammered on the tree. In Total, 220 to 250 kilograms of steel were used. The staircase was completed for Rs 60,000,” he said.
Speaking on the necessity of erecting the unusual structure, Dhinagaraj said it is no longer easy to get climbers due to the risks involved. Also, many who used to do the work migrated to industrial towns. “I want to keep my legacy intact and continue to tap palmyra juice for selling and making ‘karupatti’ (palm jaggery). It is a good livelihood and economically sufficient,” he said.
Dhinagaraj has plans to install such staircases to more than 25 palmyra trees on his farm so that tapping would be easier. Even as agriculturalists are considering several methods and machines to climb tall trees safely, the staircase seems a better option, said Raja Babu, an agricultural scientist. Former member of Palmyra workers welfare board and activist Godson Samuel said the state government must encourage such inventions to avoid risks in climbing palmyra trees.