Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Monday, Feb 01, 2010
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version | Audio | Blogs
Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Monday, Feb 01, 2010 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version | Audio | Blogs |
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Government
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Agricultural Policy Agri-Biz & Commodities - Jute Ministry for further dilution of Jute Packaging Materials Act The Ministry had earlier recommended a dilution of about 3.9 lakh bales in the JPMA and now with the present recommendation the quantum of dilution in JPMA would be to the tune of 78 per cent. Shobha Roy Kolkata, Jan. 31 With the deadlock over jute mills still continuing, the Ministry of Textiles has recommended a further dilution of around 3.8 lakh bales in the mandatory Jute Packaging Materials Act (JPMA) to meet demands of packaging foodgrains. The dilution would allow use of plastics instead of B-Twill jute bags for the Rabi Marketing Season (RMS) 2010-11, according to Mr Sanjay Kajaria, Chairman, Indian Jute Mills' Association. The Ministry had earlier recommended a dilution of about 3.9 lakh bales in the JPMA and now with the present recommendation the quantum of dilution in JPMA would be to the tune of 78 per cent. The total requirement of jute bags for sacking food grains in 2009-10 is about 10 lakh bales and the industry has been able to supply only about two lakh bales so far during this year. The Textile Ministry's recommendation of dilution of around 7.6 lakh bales would push industry towards deep sickness resulting in a loss of about Rs 1,061 crore (at the rate of Rs 43, 000/tonne), Mr Kajaria said. The strike in jute mills has been continuing for over 45 days and several rounds of tripartite meetings between the Labour Minister representing the State Government, jute mill owners and labour union have remained inconclusive. “We had a tripartite meeting on Thursday and we will have one tomorrow (Sunday). However, all these meetings have failed to come to any conclusion as there is no consensus among the 20 odd labour unions,” he said and added, “The dilution order by the Government will totally erode the market for jute products for the next three months thereby making the reopening of mills meaningless.” The jute mill workers announced an indefinite strike from December 14 this year, to press their demands for job security and payment of arrears in dearness allowance and removal of anomalies in payments of provident fund, gratuity and bonus. The jute industry, Mr Kajaria said, has already suffered a production loss of over Rs 1,600 crore and workers have lost wages of around Rs 300 crore due to the unwarranted and unilateral strike thrust on the industry. The move violated the decision taken by the Union Cabinet in September 2009 that 100 per cent reservation would continue on jute bags for food grain and sugar packing in jute year 2009–10, he said. The dilution would adversely affect the industry making ways for closure of mills, job losses, production cuts and complete jeopardy, he said. Centre relaxes jute packaging norms as workers' strike continues Raw jute prices gain on packaging demand More Stories on : Agricultural Policy | Jute
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