Delay in raw material import from India
Iqbal Siddiquee, back from Chhatak, Sunamganj
Production in the country’s lone concrete sleeper plant under Bangladesh Railway (BR) has remained suspended for more than eight months due to unusual delay in importing raw materials from India. Now there are only 8,000 pieces of concrete slippers in stock at the sleeper plant at Chhatak in Sunamganj although there is great demand of the items for use on railway tracks countrywide.
The concrete sleeper plant of BR was set up in 1986 at Chhatak with a long-term plan to replace the wooden sleepers in phases throughout the country. Initially, the plant started with an annual target of producing 50,000 pieces of sleepers, but now it has a capacity of producing 90,000 pieces. In 2007-08 fiscal year, 86,000 pieces of sleepers were produced against the target of 90,000. About a hundred employees, including 50 contract workers are engaged in the plant.
Although the state-run factory was run well for years in the beginning, things got stumbled on occasions. The state-run factory suffers much as production has to be suspended on occasions every year due to the dilly delay in importing MCI (malleable caste iron) and HT steel wares (high tension steel wares), from India, plant officials said.
Steel wares and MCI, the major ingredients used for making sleepers, was last supplied to the plant in May 2007.
“We are yet to get imported materials although the estimate of annual demand was placed before the BR headquarters much earlier,” said several officials at the plant site on Thursday.
Although the tender process for importing 2,40,000 pieces of MCI and 300 tonnes of HT steel wires (high tension steel wire) was completed months ago, clearance from the ministry could not be obtained and the tender was cancelled last month, they said.
Every year, the tender process takes much time creating uncertainty and unusual delay in supplying the items to the plant site.
“We were compelled to suspend the production in June 2008 with the exhaustion of the stocks received in May 2007,” said plant in charge Executive Engineer Hirendra Nath Majumder.
Absence of timely import of the raw materials, rise in their prices and the government’s ‘controversial’ decision to extract stones from Bholaganj stone quarry contributed much to worsen the situation, said persons concerned.
Courtesy: thedailystar.net
