Govt to ban firms supplying imported jute bags

The Ministry of Textiles (MoT) has warned that companies supplying imported jute bags for government procurements will be blacklisted for two years and will face criminal proceedings.
The Jute Commissioner has said that even if a single jute bag being supplied to the government is found to be procured from abroad, action will be taken against owners and directors of the company, an official statement said today.
The warning follows reports of unscrupulous traders and organisations importing B-Twill sacking and cloth from Bangladesh or Nepal and using them in government procurements.
The statement said such supply of sackcloth procured from abroad or sacking manufactured from imported yarn/cloth are strictly prohibited as it violates the JPM Act, 1987.

Such trade adversely affects the domestic market consisting of lakhs of jute mill workers and cultivators. It also leads to diversion of government subsidy in procurement of jute sacking and benefits unintended parties, the government said here today.