 "Centre urges Odisha to promote alternate use of jute bags")
The ministry's suggestion is aimed at safeguarding the interests of jute growers and jute farmers.
“Mandatory packaging of paddy/rice in jute bags by the local rice mills of your state may be ensured which would generate sizeable demand of B Twill sacking. This may be further supplemented by taking up use of jute packaging in food grains as well as for potatoes and other vegetables. Bags suitable for such packaging have already been developed”, Sanjay Kumar Panda, Union textiles ministry said in a letter to Odisha chief secretary G C Pati.
The demand for jute bags is on the wane, resulting in closure and reduction in the shifts of some jute mills, leading to unemployment and under-employment of jute mill workers.
The ministry has also asked the state government to consider use of jute geo-textiles in road construction, riverbank protection and hill slope management.
Referring to jute geo-textiles, the ministry said the jute industry in collaboration with the R&D (research and development) institutions, has developed several varieties of jute geo-textiles for different applications. It has been further established that in West Bengal such geo-textiles would prove very useful in three major areas of its applications- road construction, river bank protection and slope management.
Jute geo-textiles have been well accepted by some other states and also by the Indian Railways for different applications. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) have published three standards for the geo-textiles and the Indian Roads Congress (IRC), the apex standard making body on highways in the country, has recognised its utility in road construction and prevention of soil erosion and landslides.
The ministry pointed out that the National Jute Board (NJB) can provide the necessary technical guidance on the matter. The NJB has been promoting manufacture of jute diversified products.