Govt has no plan to close sugar mills: Humayun

Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun said on Sunday the ministry has no plan to close state-owned sugar mills or lay off workers, reports BSS.
"Initiatives are being taken to make sugar mills profitable by modernising them and providing alternative income," he said.
The minister made the remarks while speaking as the chief guest at a meeting to review the implementation progress of projects included in the Ministry of Industries' Annual Development Programme (ADP) for the fiscal year 2020-2021.
State Minister for Industries Kamal Ahmed Mojumder was the special guest while Industries Secretary KM Ali Azam presided over it.
Senior officials of the ministry and heads of various agencies and corporations under the ministry were present at the meeting.
At that time, the directors of various projects were connected through virtual.
Humayun said the creation of new jobs as per the election manifesto is a political commitment of the present government.
Industries Ministry has been working from the beginning to implement it, he added.
He informed that there is no question of closing down any state-owned factory and making the workers jobless.
In order to create new jobs in these factories, he said, old machineries are being replaced by modern machinery and trained manpower is being strengthened.
Through this, efforts are being made to make the state-owned corporations, including the sugar mills under the Ministry of Industry, profitable, he added.
Speaking as the special guest, Kamal Ahmed Mojumder said that the fertilisers stored in the godowns under BCIC must be properly stored, managed and distributed.
Warning that no corruption or irregularities will be accepted in the distribution of fertilisers including underweight, the state minister advised to stop the distribution of imported fertilisers in bulk fertilisers instead of importing bulk fertiliser.