The ministry of textiles and jute (MoTJ) has sought Tk 1.78 billion from the government to provide dearness allowance (DA) to nearly 70,000 workers of the Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC), officials said.
They said a letter was sent to the ministry of finance (MoF) on Tuesday, seeking funds to pay dearness allowance for the fiscal years 2013-14 and 2014-15.
"The state-run entity has recently sent a letter to the MoTJ, seeking funds for paying DA for its workers. The letter was also sent to the MoF for its consideration and taking necessary steps in this regard," Nilratan Sarkar, senior assistant secretary of the MoTJ, told the FE on Tuesday.
"The mills under the corporation are limping due to lack of necessary funds. The employees of the state-run mills are in troubles for the same reason. So, the government is trying its best to resolve the issues soon," he added.
At present, the BJMC is the biggest employer in the industrial sector of the country. It provides employment to about 67,320 workers, 5,500 officers and staff. They are supporting the livelihood of around 6.0 million farm families. More than 50 million people are directly or indirectly involved with jute and jute industry, according to the mills data.
Of the workers, some 33,270 are permanent while 27,301 work on a temporary basis and 6,749 on a daily basis, the data showed.
In July 2013, the government issued a directive to the BJMC to provide its workers with 20 per cent DA from its own funds. A condition was also set that the BJMC would not seek funds from the government on the DA purposes.
Presently, about 90 per cent workers have been appointed permanently and five state-run mills have reopened, according to the government's decision. About 7,745 staffs are now working at the mills. Also, filling the vacancies in the mills is now under the process, according to the BJMC sources.
Some Tk 18.8 million, Tk 81.10 million and Tk 973.50 million will be needed weekly, monthly and annually respectively for paying DA, according to the BJMC data.
Earnings of the mills reduced significantly due to lower demand and prices of jute goods on the international markets. Besides, prices of power, energy and spare parts increased sharply. But the prices of jute goods did not increase at the same range. As a result, the corporation is facing fund crunch, Major General Humayun Khaled, psc, chairman of the BJMC, said in the letter.
A high official of the MoTJ has said the mills are now incurring huge losses. Besides, millers are passing hard time due to fund constraint. So, it is not possible to provide the workers with the DA if the government does not allocate funds, he added.
Now, the state-run entity is operating 26 mills (including three non-jute industries). There are seven mills in Dhaka zone, ten in Chittagong and nine mills in Khulna zone.
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