The jute industry wants the annual cess paid by the industry to the Jute Manufacturers Development Council (JMDC) be ploughed back by incentivising the farmers and mill-owners.
“According to informal estimates, the jute mill owners have paid to the government about Rs 500 crore as cess so far, but the money has not been properly utilised,” said S S Kanoria, chairman, Ladlow jute mill.
The money, he said, should be assigned at the ratio of 75:25 to the farmers and mill owners, in the form of developmental activities and subsidy.
While the apex body of jute mills association, Indian Jute Mills Association (IJMA), has not taken up the issue formally to the government, Sanjay Kajaria, chairman of the body said, several individual jute mill owners had expressed concerns over the proper usage of the funds.
Kanoria said, the matter was also discussed with Dayanidhi Maran, Union minister of textiles, during his recent visit to Kolkata.
JMDC officials were not available for comment.
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IJMA has also urged the textiles ministry and ministry of agriculture to increase their procurement of certified seeds and improve the distribution mechanism, according to Kajaria.
Currently, certified seeds account for about 20-25 per cent of the total seeds used in jute farming.
"IJMA has taken up the matter of certified seeds and there is a possibility of increasing the procurement of such seeds for production," Kanoria said.
Strike threat
Meanwhile, jute workers have threatened of go for another strike, if their demands, mostly pertaining to the non-payments of gratuity and other dues are not met.
It is to be noted, the jute mills are one the biggest defaulters in the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).
(EPFO) had earlier indicated that it would clamp down on the jute mills who failed to pay the provident fund dues of the employees through coercive and legal actions.
“Of the 59 jute mills in and around Kolkata, most are defaulters. We are trying to recover the amount through all sorts of measures, including coercive actions,” S S Prasad, regional PF commissioner, EPFO, had said in June this year.
According to Prasad, almost all the defaulting jute mills have filed for litigation against the EPFO, and in several cases, the EPFO had moved the Supreme Court for reversal of the judgements by the Calcutta High Court.
The jute industry has been witnessing labour unrest and frequent strikes over the last few years on issues like non-payment of standing provident fund (PF) and gratuity dues.
In May last year, a personnel of a jute mill in Titagarh, North 24-Parganas, was battered to death in his office on the mill premises, while the Sangrami Mazdoor Union (SMU) conducted protests in the premises.
The shrinking demand for jute in the packaging industry has also been a cause of concern for jute mill owners. Of the 59 jute mills in and around Kolkata, 52 are operating. Even in the operating jute mills, the production has been falling.