The government is committed to bringing the golden days of jute back by modernising state-owned mills and equipping those with modern amenities in accordance with the growing global demand of jute products.
To that end, it has formed two high-level committees to make recommendations on modernisation and reactivation of the jute mills taking the changed reality of Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) into account.
Textiles and Jute Ministry Additional Secretary Mohammad Abul Kalam shared these developments with journalists during a press conference held at the Jute Diversification Promotion Center (JDPC) in the capital on Monday.
In the meantime, the government is also working to reopen the jute mills that were being operated under the supervision of Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation as soon as possible after necessary modernisation and restructuring of the jute production system in view of the current market and prospects of diversified jute products.
Mohammad Abul Kalam said, “After the renovation, the country's jute mills will be brought back to production as early as possible under the government-controlled public-private partnership (PPP), Government-to-Government (G2G) joint venture or leasing system.”
“The government’s decision has been applauded by different quarters. Nevertheless, some vested interests are trying to create confusion in the minds of the people by spreading false information”, he added.
While talking about the workers’ due salaries and other benefits, Additional Secretary said, “All the relevant provisions of the Labor Act have been followed while declaring employee termination and closure of jute mills. Appropriate legal action has also been taken to determine the amount owed to the workers and to pay it.”
He went on to say, “As the workers have been terminated from July 1, 2020, according to the provisions of the Labor Act, they have no claim or dues except for the wages of 60 days’ notice period. Already half of the notice period i.e. 30 days’ wages have been paid after receiving the amount from the finance department.”
It is to be noted that BJMC has to sell products at reduced rates to survive in the market as the production cost is abnormally high owing to almost three times higher wages of the workers compared to the private sector. This harms the overall competitive environment in the jute sector and the private mills face difficulties in fixing the prices of manufactured goods.
