The government has formed a 5-member committee to ensure the payment of salaries, allowances and dues to permanent and retired employees of Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) within 15 days.
The budget wing of finance division on Monday issued an order signed by its deputy secretary Md Towhidul Islam to this end. The order will be effective immediately.
The 5-member high power committee is headed by additional secretary of Treasury and Debit Management Sheikh Mohammed Salim Ullah. The other 4 members are from the Controller of Account General office, Office of Comptroller and Auditor General of Bangladesh and Finance Division.
The committee will scrutinise the papers of permanent 25,000 officers and workers of 26 BJMC Jute Mills and ensure that none is deprived of their entitled financial benefits.
The order also said, “As per terms of reference of the committee, it will determine payment of salaries and allowances of retried and permanent officials and staff of BJMC Mills. If necessary, the committee will cooperate with the concerned authority.
Meanwhile, the government's plan to revitalise the flagging jute sector through public-private partnerships (PPP) have been met with scepticism from stakeholders in the industry.
The decision to form the committee comes after the government announced the shutdown of production at all state-owned jute mills and transition to the PPP model in a bid to modernise the sector.
The 26 jute mills under BJMC have been incurring losses for years, turning profits in just four of the last 44 years. These incurred a cumulative loss of Tk 106.74 billion while the government provided subsidies worth Tk 106.74 billion in this sector over the last 48 years, according to official data.
The move to shut down the mills will also send about 25,000 workers at 26 jute mills into early retirement under a scheme, euphemistically called a golden handshake.
However, textiles and jute minister Golam Dastagir Gazi is hopeful that the state-owned jute mills will be up and running soon with modern equipment under the PPP model.
But, past experiences of privately-run jute mills are also not very promising, with many having closed due to heavy financial losses.
