The finance ministry has sanctioned Tk 100 crore in favour of Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation to help the state-owned corporation in purchasing raw jute.
The finance division of the ministry through an office order on Monday made the allocation. The order, signed by Hasan Khaled Faisal, a deputy secretary of the finance division, attached five conditions for the utilisation of the fund and its repayment process.
The allocation will be considered as loan to BJMC from the finance ministry. The annual interest rate for the loan has been fixed at five per cent to be repaid by the next five years, the order said.
The BJMC under any circumstances would not utilise the fund other than for the purpose of purchasing raw jute. The repayment has to be made through account payee cheques.
The details of the spending of Tk 100 crore have to be submitted to the finance ministry within next three months from the date of fund release.
The spending has to be audited by a chartered accountant firm, the order mentioned.
The existing spending regulations on public funds have to be strictly maintained and any violation of the regulations would be strictly dealt with the law, the office order said.
The conditions and formalities lying in the memorandum of understanding signed between finance ministry, ministry of textiles and jute and BJMC have to be strictly followed while spending the Tk 100 crore fund and its repayment, the order added.
When asked, a senior official at the BJMC said they had sought Tk 213 crore from the ministry to purchase raw jute from the farmers.
‘Tk 100 crore is as good as emergency fund to meet the urgent demand, but not enough allocation considering the necessity of purchasing raw jute and paying off the farmers’ arear bills,’ a BJMC official told New Age on Wednesday.
Currently, 21 jute mills operate under the state-owned BJMC.
The country produces nearly 60 lakh bales of jute per annum on around 1,235 lakh acres of land.
Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation is the world’s biggest state-owned manufacturing and exporting organisation of all kinds of Jute goods.
The jute fibres are used in a wide range of diversified products like decorative fabrics, chic-saris, salwar kamize, soft luggage, footwear, greeting cards, molded door panels and many other useful consumer products.
-With New Age input
