Badrul Ahsan :
The mills under Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation have been suffering from fund crisis and raw jute for several years.
As a result, the mills cannot buy raw jute as much as necessary for which the full production capacity remains unutilised. The crisis deepens for want of Balancing, Modernisation, Rehabilitation and Expansion (BMRE), and excess staff as well.
BJMC operates 26 mills across the country and has more than 60,000 employees and officials in different grades.
However, the biggest problem the state-owned
corporation has been facing for years is that it cannot buy raw jute in time. When the government disburses funds, the market price of jute increases by 50 percent.
The jute-harvesting season is already over. But Humayun Khaled, Chairman of the BJMC, said that the Corporation could not yet complete buying jute for the next season, whereas the private mills have piled it few months ago.
“If I had the money in my hand, I could have bought jute as much as possible,” he said.
What costs Tk 500 crore during the peak season, it rises upto Tk 700 crore during the off season.
“We cannot utilize our production capacity in full for want of raw jute.
“Our production suffers due to the late disbursement of fund and unutilisation of capacity. For this reason, we miss export opportunities in many potential markets,” he said
Critics say, why the BJMC is unable to buy jute with its own funds, instead of relying on handouts from the government?
As per BJMC’s data, it has to spend Tk 14 crore per week as wages for workers, meaning the corporation has to spend Tk 728 crore a year or nearly 72 percent of its total earnings as wages. Now with the government’s new pay commission going into effect, the amount of wages would much more.
One of the chronic problems the Corporation faces is that it suffers from excess staff. The private mills follow “no work, no pay” basis, but the BJMC has to pay its workers weekly, regardless of whether there is any work or not.
Another Tk 80 crore is spent annually as debt servicing against bank loans, said the BJMC Chairman, adding if the other expenses are added, the BJMC is left with hardly any fund.
Moreover, this financially ailing public organisation spends around Tk 10 crore a year to support sports activities. The BJMC has football, cycling, judo, athletics swimming and other sports teams.
But Humayun Khaled does not agree the accusation. He said that the money so spent on sports should not be branded as a waste. “The BJMC is patronising different national teams in the interest of the country’s sports
The mills under Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation have been suffering from fund crisis and raw jute for several years.
As a result, the mills cannot buy raw jute as much as necessary for which the full production capacity remains unutilised. The crisis deepens for want of Balancing, Modernisation, Rehabilitation and Expansion (BMRE), and excess staff as well.
BJMC operates 26 mills across the country and has more than 60,000 employees and officials in different grades.
However, the biggest problem the state-owned
corporation has been facing for years is that it cannot buy raw jute in time. When the government disburses funds, the market price of jute increases by 50 percent.
The jute-harvesting season is already over. But Humayun Khaled, Chairman of the BJMC, said that the Corporation could not yet complete buying jute for the next season, whereas the private mills have piled it few months ago.
“If I had the money in my hand, I could have bought jute as much as possible,” he said.
What costs Tk 500 crore during the peak season, it rises upto Tk 700 crore during the off season.
“We cannot utilize our production capacity in full for want of raw jute.
“Our production suffers due to the late disbursement of fund and unutilisation of capacity. For this reason, we miss export opportunities in many potential markets,” he said
Critics say, why the BJMC is unable to buy jute with its own funds, instead of relying on handouts from the government?
As per BJMC’s data, it has to spend Tk 14 crore per week as wages for workers, meaning the corporation has to spend Tk 728 crore a year or nearly 72 percent of its total earnings as wages. Now with the government’s new pay commission going into effect, the amount of wages would much more.
One of the chronic problems the Corporation faces is that it suffers from excess staff. The private mills follow “no work, no pay” basis, but the BJMC has to pay its workers weekly, regardless of whether there is any work or not.
Another Tk 80 crore is spent annually as debt servicing against bank loans, said the BJMC Chairman, adding if the other expenses are added, the BJMC is left with hardly any fund.
Moreover, this financially ailing public organisation spends around Tk 10 crore a year to support sports activities. The BJMC has football, cycling, judo, athletics swimming and other sports teams.
But Humayun Khaled does not agree the accusation. He said that the money so spent on sports should not be branded as a waste. “The BJMC is patronising different national teams in the interest of the country’s sports
