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BD jute mills

face cash crisis

DHAKA: The state-owned jute mills that are under the control of Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BTMC) are facing acute cash crisis which may lead to the closure of many of them. Sources in the BTMC confirmed 8 jute mills under the BTMC so far failed to procure necessary raw jute required to run the mills smoothly and uninterruptedly.

These mills could not purchase jute from the market due to shortage of fund. The mill authorities and the BTMC asked the government to provide necessary fund to maintain normal production of those mills. But the response in not yet encouraging.

Sources said, 8 jute mills, including 2 carpet mills urgently need Tk. 30 crore to buy raw jute to continue production failing which most of them may be closed at any time. Some of them may be able to continue production with their exiting stock for another week.

It has been learnt that Tk 150 crore are required to procure raw jute to meet the annual need of the nationalised mills. The government allocated an amount of Tk. 100 crore in the current fiscal year to buy raw jute for the nationalised jute mills managed by BTMC. At present BTMC manages 15 nationalised jute mills.

So far Tk 40 crore has been disbursed by the bank to facilitate purchase of raw jute for these mills. But the mills are in need of about Tk 90 crore to make payments for the outstanding bills against raw jute purchased earlier. To face the crisis successfully, BTMC requested the government to allocate an extra amount of Tk 100 crore in excess of the budget allocation.

Diesel smuggled

A big amount of diesel is being smuggled to India through the ordering villages of the western region of Bangladesh. It has been reported that the smugglers started smuggling diesel to India when Indian government increased its price a few months back.

The Bangladeshi smugglers purchase diesel at Tk 13.25 per litre in Bangladesh while they sell it to their Indian counterparts at a price of Tk 20.

Instead of using barrels, the smugglers use plastic containers to carry diesel to Indian border. As a result minor boys and women can carry the containers easily and the smuggling spread to mass level.

Many new and temporary depots of diesel have been set up in the bordering village markets inside Bangladesh, in addition to the filling stations, from where a huge quantity of diesel is being smuggled to India everyday.ÑAPP