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Huge fire at Feni jute mill
Feni, July 24, 2013, A devastating fire at a jute mill in BISIC Industrial area of Feni
gutted large quantity of raw materials, jute products and machinery Tuesday morning.
Five people including three firefighters sustained minor injuries while dousing the flame, which originated at the tin-roofed Quality Jute Mill,
built on 2.25 acres of land, around 4:10am.
On information, seven firefighting units from Feni and Noakhali rushed
to the spot and doused the fire after around 10 hours, reports our Feni correspondent.
SM Iqbal, general manager of the factory, said the fire originated soon after workers turned on a machine early Tuesday.
The workers tried to put out the blaze immediately but it spread to the
factory instantly, burning raw jute, thread and machines. According to the mill authorities, the extent of loss caused by the fire
can go up to Tk 20 crore. Source: The Daily Star
Jute mill in Khulna closes for 45 days
Khulna, June 28, 2013:The privately owned Mohsen Jute Mill in Shiromony area in Khulna city
was declared closed for 45 days on the ground of “financial crisis and decreasing demand for its products on the foreign markets”.
Quoting the mill authorities, Shahidul Islam, officer-in-charge of
Khanjahan Ali Police Station, said a notice was served by the authorities, which was put up on the notice board around 5:30pm.
“We deployed additional police personnel to avoid any untoward situation in the mill area,” he said.
Some workers claimed that the authorities announced the mill closed
after being ill-motivated. The authorities closed the mill as their bank interest has increased,
they alleged. They said around 1,500 workers and employees would be jobless.
The mill authorities could not be contacted over the phone till last night.
In 1971, the Mohsen Jute Mill was established in Shiromony BISIC area in the city near the bank of the river Bhairab.Source: The Daily Star
Jute Bag Export Escalates Remarkably From Bangladesh in 2012-13
Dhaka, March 13, 2013: Due to the increasing demand in the international markets, the golden
fibre products specifically jute bags and sacks- earned a remarkable growth in the current fiscal in Bangladesh compared to the last fiscal.
Jute bags and sacks export witnessed 45.35 per cent growth in the first seven months this year.
However, the export of raw jute in the fiscal reduced by 5.56 per cent,
declining to $136.34 million from 144.37 million in the same period last year. Rezaul Karim, former president of Bangladesh Jute Association
stated that the export earnings grew from the sector because of a growing popularity of natural fibre made products abroad. Besides, the
jute handicraft enjoys the government’s cash subsidy against their export earnings. Some new jute bag manufacturing units were set up in
the country in private sector, mainly in Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna and Jessore region, that increased the jute bag export, he added.
According to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data, the total earning
from jute and jute goods marked at $591.88 million in July-January period against $532.43 million during the same period last fiscal. The
earning is 11.17 per cent higher this year than last year. Bangladesh earned $ 142.75 million in the first seven months of current fiscal
against $98.21 million during the same period last fiscal, according to export figure. Source: IJSG .
Minister urges all to foil conspiracies over jute
Dhaka, March 01 2013: Jute and Textiles Minister Abdul Latif Siddique Thursday said
Bangladeshi jute still has enormous potentials at home and abroad, but various conspiracies are going on to hinder the progress of local jute
industry. "We should save jute from the conspiracies, and bring back those golden
days for the sake of a clean environment," he said. He said these while speaking as the chief guest of the 'Awareness
Programme on Application and Usage of Jute Geo-textiles' at a city hotel.
A number of papers on use, innovation and manufacturing of jute and jute
products were presented on the occasion. Dushtha Shasthya Kendra (DSK) President Dr. A. B. M. Abdullah presented
a paper on jute geo-textiles and environment, and Director General of Bangladesh Jute Research Institute (BJRI) Dr. Kamal Uddin on application
on chemically treated jute fabrics as geo-textiles. Besides, Professor of BUET Dr. Abdul Jabbar Khan presented a paper on
use of jute geo-textiles in civil engineering, and Brigadier General Abu Sayeed Md. Masud on pioneering use of jute geo-textiles in projects
implemented by Bangladesh Army. The minister said, "We are greatly in need of innovations in green
technology to continue living on the earth, and achieve sustainable development in all the sectors."
He said for a country like Bangladesh, the problem seems to be much more alarming.
Abdul Latif Siddique said experts and manufacturers of Bangladesh and
the neighbouring countries are researching for developing use of jute geo-textiles in potentially important products.
He expressed hope that the manufacturers will continue exchanging views with the research organisations and developing various products as per
research achievements and end-users' requirements. Dr. A. B. M. Abdullah said BJRI has developed more than 50 types of
modified and bio-degradable geo-jute, nursery products, and geo-textiles of woven, non-woven, felted and encapsulated types.
Dr. Md. Kamal Uddin said, "Composite nature of jute imparts certain viscoelastic property on different jute products, having definite
advantages to be used as geo-textiles." Source: The Financial Express
Three closed jute mills reopen soon in Bangladesh
Dhaka, January 11, 2013: The government is set to reopen three closed jute mills this month in a
bid to revitalise the country's jute industry. The three mills -- Daulatpur Jute Mills in Khulna, Karnaphuli Jute Mills
and Forat-Karnaphuli Carpet Factory in Chittagong -- will be operated under the state-run Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation
(BJMC).
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to inaugurate the Daulatpur
Mills on 24 January and the Karnaphuli Jute and Forat-Karnaphuli mills on January 26.
“The government wants to revive the lost glory of golden fibre,” said Major General Humayun Khaled, chairman of
BJMC. The full-scale operations of these mills will create jobs for about 4,000 people directly and enhance BJMC's total production capacity
annually to 250,000 tonnes from the existing 230,000 tonnes, he said.
Daulatpur Jute Mills, which has been producing jute products on a test
basis since April last year, will now go into commercial production. Established in 1953 on 23 acres at Khalishpur, Daulatpur Jute Mills
started commercial production in 1955 and was nationalised in 1965. It was closed down by the BNP-led four-party alliance government on
December 7, 2002 due to a severe financial crisis. On July 18, 2007, the then caretaker government shut down Karnaphuli
Jute Mills and Forat-Karnaphuli Carpet Factory and leased them out to a private company, Saad Musa Group, in 2008.
BJMC has already cancelled the lease and taken over the two mills, according to the BJMC chairman.
“BJMC has already prepared a project for modernisation and expansion of jute mills,” Khaled added.
Under the project, the BJMC has a plan to replace old machineries, repair old factory buildings and construct new ones, replace cables and
so on. BJMC has a total of 24 jute mills, of which 18 are now operational.
Reopening the closed jute mills is an electoral pledge of the present government.
Earlier, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina reopened People's Jute Mills (renamed Khalishpur Jute Mills) on March 5, 2011, while Quami Jute Mills
(renamed National Jute Mills) on April 9 of the same year. The state-run Jute Mills Corporation produced 1.76 lakh tonnes of jute
products in fiscal 2011-12, up from the previous year's 1.66 lakh tonnes, according to BJMC data.
It also exported jute products worth Tk 1,058.14 crore in fiscal
2011-12, up from the Tk 943.42 crore registered in the previous fiscal year. Source: The Daily Star
Bangladesh 2012: Year that was
Dhaka, January 01 2013: Looking back at the stream of events that shaped the calendar year 2012,
one may have a mixed feeling and may tend to see it not as bad as it seemed while grappling with some of the tumultuous incidents that shook
the nation more than ever before. It is characteristic of the human nature that there is a sense of the wistful when we turn our eyes back,
not trying to reason out how a particular incident or incidents affected our lives.
Indulgence apart, the year 2012 was more than just a calendar year for
Bangladesh. There were events, dreadful and disgusting, which may make one feel relieved that at long last the year has slipped off, as though
with all the traces of anxiety and frustration. There were events that kept us hoping and believing that things were at least
on the right track and needed to be manoeuvred with a bit of dynamism and drive. And
there were events that did glorify us as a nation. Taking stock of the things that marked the year will reveal that despite some of the most
abhorrent of acts, there were great feats of achievements at national and individual levels that should be counted on.
The economy of the country did make good strides in the past year
despite what looked like insurmountable odds creeping in from all possible directions. The sustained growth at more than 6.0 per cent was
indeed a daunting task for the government. In the face of global recession, the country was able to maintain a growth trend in its
exports which, though short of target, was well poised at the end of the year to make things better by the close of the next fiscal. Prospects in
certain export sectors such as RMG, leather goods, shrimps, ship-building are likely to emerge with new vistas of growth. One of the
most commendable roles in enabling the economy to get on with the growth momentum has been played by the overseas workers with increased
remittance, which so far is the highest at a staggering $20 billion. The investment scenario, on the other hand, is far from demonstrating any
sign of improvement.
The government can claim credit for its efforts in digitisation that
have seen remarkable improvements in the past year. By the end of the year, the move to introduce on-line tenders in some government
departments as part of their procurement mechanism is indeed laudable. The government should also be credited for its very competent handling
of the longstanding maritime boundary dispute with Myanmar at the International Tribunal for Law of the Seas (ITLS). The ITLS verdict is a
huge watershed in that it would open up new horizons for unhindered oil exploration over the newly demarcated, vast territorial sea waters. This
hopefully will be a good precedent for the forthcoming resolution of maritime boundary dispute with India.There are some remarkable feats by Bangladeshis, individually and
collectively, that should make everyone proud. Discovering the sequence of the fungus that destroys jute plants at their growing up stage by
Bangladeshi scientist Maqsudul Alam is by all means a commendable achievement. By applying the gene code of fungus and jute code that he
discovered, new varieties of jute can be developed that will be finer in form and more resistant to fungus. Besides, the country can save as much
as Tk 40 billion by way of protecting jute plants from the killer fungus. Winning the highest mountain peak, Everest, by two
Bangladeshi daughters is also no mean achievement.
The year 2012 has passed. The corpse buried in the yard should be left
to decay and decompose beyond any possibility of sprouting, ever. T S Eliot has already cautioned in the memorable The Waste Land: Keep the
dog far hence, or it will dig it up again. Source: www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com
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