In view of the projected shortfall of about 6 lakh bales of gunny bags for procurement of food grains by the government agencies in this year’s kharif marketing season, the Directorate General of Supply and Disposal (DGS&D) has decided to suspend the punitive action against four jute mills in West Bengal.
Sources close to the development said, these four jute mills have a combined capacity of 18,000 bales per month and DGS&D’s move to suspend punitive action against these four mills is aimed at maximising supply of B Twill jute bags. The requirement for gunny bags has been projected at 14 lakh bales in the kharif marketing season of 2009-10 as against 10 lakh bales in 2008-09. As per the assessment of the Jute Commissioner, the jute mills can supply up to a maximum of 8 lakh bales by the end of September this year, thereby leaving a shortfall of 6 lakh bales.
The Union food ministry was exploring the possibility of use of HDPE (high density polyethylene) and polypropylene bags to tide over the shortfall. However, most of the government procuring agencies have shown a preference for jute bags over HDPE and polypropylene bags.
At a meeting of the Union food ministry held on July 1 this year, the possibility of extending the delivery schedule of the supply of jute bags till November or December was discussed.
Sanjay Kajaria, chairman, Indian Jute Mills Association (IJMA) gave a firm commitment that the jute industry can supply 12.45 lakh bales by the end of November this year.
It may be noted that the jute mills across the country had to supply jute bags by September every year as the procurement operations in most of the states including Punjab and Haryana starts from October 1 every year. Kajaria said there is no shortage of raw jute in the country and the jute industry is committed to supply 12.45 lakh bales without any conditions.
At the meting, Siraj Hussain, joint secretary, Union food ministry said, his ministry would explore the possibility of use of alternate jute bags and also pursue with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for laying down standards for packing food grains in such bags.
IJMA would also approach the Mumbai-based Indian Institute of Packaging for getting the alternate jute bags tested. Kajaria said the BIS specification already exists for modified type-B jute bag for packaging of sugar adding since food grains are less compact than sugar, the dimensions of the bag need to be increased to make it equal to the existing B Twill bag dimensions.
He further said the Union food ministry can explore the possibility of using DW plain sacking bags which have the same weight and dimensions as that of B Twill bags.
These bags are without any BIS specification but they have been tested by the Indian Jute Industries Research Association (IJIRA) and are found suitable for packing food grains.
