Gono commission calls for saving jute industry from ‘int'l conspiracy’
Tuesday, 10 July 2007
KHULNA, July 9 (UNB): The Public Commission on Jute and Jute Industry, a fact-finding mission comprising economists and trade unionists, Monday demanded of the caretaker government to allocate a special fund for resurrecting country's jute industry that fell victim to an internationally designed plot despite having bright prospects.
In this context, the commission leaders pointed their fingers at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund- the international donor agencies blamed for being involved more in dictating policy options than in funding real economic development recipes.
"The two donor agencies advised the government to close down the jute industry, terming it a loss-incurring sector, while they have expressed keen interest in investing in the jute sector of India to boost the sector," the commission leaders told journalists after fact-finding trip to the jute-industry hub here.
The Gono Commission urged the WB-IMF twins to refrain from what they said resorting to double standard.
Rejecting the allegations raised against the jute-sector workers, commission member Sheikh Mohammad Shahidulla, also the president of the National Oil, Electricity and Gas Protection Committee, asserted that none of the workers was responsible for the plight of the sector.
"Rather a vested quarter of the unscrupulous high officials of this sector ruined it through embezzling huge amounts of money with the entente of foreign evil force."
"It is very shocking that the government has allocated a very meagre fund for the jute sector in the current budget when the jute products are rapidly gaining popularity across the globe," said commission secretary Shah Alam at a press conference in the morning.
He apprehended that the government policy would lead the near-dying sector to the brink of ruination, imperiling life and livelihood of around 40 million people involved directly and indirectly with the sector.
Shah Alam mentioned that jute is still securing the third position in the country's export sector, annually earning around US$ 600 million from the export of jute and jute-products abroad.
Regretting the government policy he said, "Once we were the major exporters of jute in the world, but now India is gradually replacing our position cashing in on sheer negligence of our government towards this potential sector."
The leaders strongly criticised the recent massive retrenchment of jute workers from four BJMC-run jute mills and called upon the government to immediately stop the retrenchment process and reinstate the fired workers.
A total of 1762 workers of four of the state-run jute mills turned scapegoat of the government's retrenchment move, and fears of losing jobs gripped some 30,000 workers involved in five state-run mills in Barisal and Jessore.
The press conference was attended, among others, by commission members MM Akash, teacher of Dhaka University Economics Department, renowned economist from Jahangirnagar University Economics Department Anu Mohammad, and labour leader Shahidulla Chowdhury.
In this context, the commission leaders pointed their fingers at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund- the international donor agencies blamed for being involved more in dictating policy options than in funding real economic development recipes.
"The two donor agencies advised the government to close down the jute industry, terming it a loss-incurring sector, while they have expressed keen interest in investing in the jute sector of India to boost the sector," the commission leaders told journalists after fact-finding trip to the jute-industry hub here.
The Gono Commission urged the WB-IMF twins to refrain from what they said resorting to double standard.
Rejecting the allegations raised against the jute-sector workers, commission member Sheikh Mohammad Shahidulla, also the president of the National Oil, Electricity and Gas Protection Committee, asserted that none of the workers was responsible for the plight of the sector.
"Rather a vested quarter of the unscrupulous high officials of this sector ruined it through embezzling huge amounts of money with the entente of foreign evil force."
"It is very shocking that the government has allocated a very meagre fund for the jute sector in the current budget when the jute products are rapidly gaining popularity across the globe," said commission secretary Shah Alam at a press conference in the morning.
He apprehended that the government policy would lead the near-dying sector to the brink of ruination, imperiling life and livelihood of around 40 million people involved directly and indirectly with the sector.
Shah Alam mentioned that jute is still securing the third position in the country's export sector, annually earning around US$ 600 million from the export of jute and jute-products abroad.
Regretting the government policy he said, "Once we were the major exporters of jute in the world, but now India is gradually replacing our position cashing in on sheer negligence of our government towards this potential sector."
The leaders strongly criticised the recent massive retrenchment of jute workers from four BJMC-run jute mills and called upon the government to immediately stop the retrenchment process and reinstate the fired workers.
A total of 1762 workers of four of the state-run jute mills turned scapegoat of the government's retrenchment move, and fears of losing jobs gripped some 30,000 workers involved in five state-run mills in Barisal and Jessore.
The press conference was attended, among others, by commission members MM Akash, teacher of Dhaka University Economics Department, renowned economist from Jahangirnagar University Economics Department Anu Mohammad, and labour leader Shahidulla Chowdhury.