Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) has yet to submit a report on the amount of due money to be paid to the employees of 25 closed jute mills. The report was due to be submitted to a committee more than a month ago.
On July 5, Finance division formed a 5-member committee to ensure smooth payment of salaries, allowances and other dues to permanent and retired employees of BJMC mills within 15 days.
The 5-member high power committee is headed by additional secretary of Treasury and Debit Management Sheikh Mohammed Salim Ullah.
Additional secretary of Finance Division Sheikh Mohammed Salim Ullah told The Business Post that he did not receive any report on the calculations.
However, a top BJMC official said they are taking time to complete the report because more scrutiny is needed to avoid any legal complexities.
At the end of June this year, the government decided to shut the operation of the ailing state-owned jute mills under BJMC.
BJMC is planning to allow private investors to operate the mills provided that they have expertise in the jute business.
The decision to close the 25 jute mills came as BJMC mills had been incurring staggering losses over the years.
The government also decided to retrench staffs of Jute mills through golden-handshake.
According to BJMC sources, the golden handshake amount is likely to be more than 6,600 crore taka.
Of the total, Tk 4,900 crore will be paid in cash while the rest of the amount will be paid in saving certificates.
Currently, the BJMC has around 24,846 regular (permanent) workers and another nearly 30,000 temporary workers.
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