Ministry plans to sell 2.8m jute bags at subsidised rates

The Ministry of Textiles and Jute (MoTJ) has come up with a plan for selling 2.8 million pieces of jute bags at subsidised prices for the purpose of carrying commodities as alternative to poly-bags.

To this effect, the ministry has sought necessary steps from the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) for marketing such jute bags among the consumers of the capital city through the state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB).

A project has already been undertaken under the MoTJ in this regard with a view to producing about 2.8 million pieces of such jut bags, official sources said.

A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting, held at the MoTJ on May 19 with its Adviser Sk. Bashir Uddin in the chair.

The main purpose of the initiative is to promote and encourage the use of environment-friendly jute bags as an alternative to polythene bags for the sake of protecting environment.

The project has been undertaken with the funding support of Bangladesh Climate Change Trust (BCCT), according to officials.

Under the project, about 2.8 million pieces of jute bags will be sold at subsidised prices in Dhaka Metropolitan City for the purpose of carrying commodities, according a document prepared by the MoTJ.

The Department of Jute (DJ) under the MoTJ is implementing the project, it was learnt.

But it is not possible for the department alone to complete the sales of such jute sacks due to the lack of its necessary manpower and experience to this effect, it mentioned.

As per the decision of the meeting, the commerce ministry is to issue necessary instruction to the TCB in this regard, a senior official of the DJ said.

When contacted, a commerce ministry official said: "We have received a letter from textiles and Jute ministry with regard to taking necessary steps for distributing such jute bags by the TCB."

rezamumu@gmail.com