The New Nation - Internet Edition

THE anti-graft taskforces are reportedly going to launch drives soon against corruption that forced many of the state-owned jute mills to face closure while turning others into losing concerns. The taskforces dealing with graft and serious crimes reportedly have started collecting primary information about former and serving senior officials suspected to be involved in corruption both at the mills and their controlling agency - Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC). The government has initiated inquiries into allegations of corruption against the officials of the jute mills as well as of the corporation.

There has been corruption in the sector since the independence of the country, the adviser for jute reportedly said said adding, 'We have received allegations of corruption against many officials.' The taskforces on their own would look into the allegations of irregularities in the state-owned jute mills and would ask for wealth statements of officials and employees - both retired and serving - of the mills and the corporation. The public sector jute mills across the country had not seen any profit since the 1971 independence, mainly due to all-pervasive corruption and mismanagement. There were as many as 77 state-owned jute mills under the BJMC following the 1972-nationalisation.

Privatisation of the jute mills started in 1983 and the number of state-owned jute mills reduced to 22 by the end of 2006. The world's biggest Adamjee Jute Mills was closed down in 2002 and the sprawling mill area was turned into an export processing zone. The present government laid off eight jute mills in June last year when the finance ministry refused to provide any more funds for running the loss-making units. Last year, the government allocated Tk 150 crore for purchasing raw jute but the finance ministry made the fund conditional to getting rid of four more jute mills in line with global lenders' prescription to reduce the number of public sector entities.