Economic Reporter :
Leaders of the Bangladesh Labon Mill Malik Samity (Salt Factory Owners’ Association) on Monday urged the government to stop importing toxic sodium sulphate in the name of salt considering the health risks as well as to save the local industry.
“We have huge quantity of salt, produced locally, that is enough to meet the demand during the coming Eid-ul-Azha for preserving the raw hide. There is no need to import toxic sodium sulphate,” they said while speaking at a press conference at the National Press Club in the capital.
Alleging against the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) of providing wrong information about the production and demand of salt, the leaders said that time has come to unmask the government agencies concerned who provides opportunity to the dishonest traders to import toxic sodium sulphate in the name of salt.
Speaking at the press conference, Nurul Kabir, President of the organisation, said that there have no fear of increasing salt price ahead of Eid.
“We have sent an application to the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to protect the industry through mitigating the problem. We also informed the matter to the Industries and Commerce Ministry and the chairman of Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) to resolve the crisis promptly, but no step is yet to be taken”, Kabir added.
He said the industrial sector needs some 9 lac metric tons of bonded salt and caustic soda annually. On the other hand, according to the BSCIC information, the industrial sector is utilizing 4 lac tons of salt. In this calculation, the deficit of the salt is 5 lac metric tons. However, such misleading information is a concern for the stakeholders of the salt industry.
He underscored the need for accurate data for saving the salt industry in the country, saying that some 60 thousand hectors of land were utilizing for salt production. Of the total land, the government has acquired some 15 thousand hectors of land for power generation as well as developing infrastructure in the recent years resulting lower salt production in the country.
“To overcome the crisis, they informed the Industries and Commerce Ministry as well as BSCIC but they still did not get any solution,” he said.
He urged the Prime Minister to resolve the problem for the sake of saving the salt producers in the country.
Leaders of the Bangladesh Labon Mill Malik Samity (Salt Factory Owners’ Association) on Monday urged the government to stop importing toxic sodium sulphate in the name of salt considering the health risks as well as to save the local industry.
“We have huge quantity of salt, produced locally, that is enough to meet the demand during the coming Eid-ul-Azha for preserving the raw hide. There is no need to import toxic sodium sulphate,” they said while speaking at a press conference at the National Press Club in the capital.
Alleging against the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) of providing wrong information about the production and demand of salt, the leaders said that time has come to unmask the government agencies concerned who provides opportunity to the dishonest traders to import toxic sodium sulphate in the name of salt.
Speaking at the press conference, Nurul Kabir, President of the organisation, said that there have no fear of increasing salt price ahead of Eid.
“We have sent an application to the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to protect the industry through mitigating the problem. We also informed the matter to the Industries and Commerce Ministry and the chairman of Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) to resolve the crisis promptly, but no step is yet to be taken”, Kabir added.
He said the industrial sector needs some 9 lac metric tons of bonded salt and caustic soda annually. On the other hand, according to the BSCIC information, the industrial sector is utilizing 4 lac tons of salt. In this calculation, the deficit of the salt is 5 lac metric tons. However, such misleading information is a concern for the stakeholders of the salt industry.
He underscored the need for accurate data for saving the salt industry in the country, saying that some 60 thousand hectors of land were utilizing for salt production. Of the total land, the government has acquired some 15 thousand hectors of land for power generation as well as developing infrastructure in the recent years resulting lower salt production in the country.
“To overcome the crisis, they informed the Industries and Commerce Ministry as well as BSCIC but they still did not get any solution,” he said.
He urged the Prime Minister to resolve the problem for the sake of saving the salt producers in the country.
