The Ministry of Textiles and Jute (MoTJ) has sought over Tk 2.80 billion from the government to pay wages and allowances to workers of Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC), officials said.They said a letter was sent to the Ministry of Finance (MoF) on November 11, seeking funds to pay wages and allowances to the jute workers till December, 2018.Earlier, BJMC sought Tk 3.80 billion for paying wages and allowances to the workers of jute mills under its control. Of the amount, the government provided Tk 1.0 billion in October last. BJMC is now seeking the rest of the fund.”The mills under BJMC are financially broke. For this reason, the employees of the state-run mills are also in trouble,” a BJMC official said.At present, the BJMC is the biggest employer in the country’s industrial sector. It provides direct employment to about 70,000 workers and 5,500 officers and employees.More than 50 million people are directly or indirectly dependent on the jute industry.There are 26 mills (including three non-jute industries) under BJMC. Of them, seven are in Dhaka zone while 10 in Chittagong zone and nine in Khulna zone.The BJMC has two zonal offices for supervising and coordinating the activities of regional mills, according to BJMC.
