18 out of 20 BTMC mills shut: Two limping

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Saturday, 04 September 2010

Author / Source : MD MONIRUL ALAM

Eighteen textile mills under Bangladesh Textile Mills Corporation (BTMC) out of total 20 are now out of operation and the remaining two still surviving on ‘service charge system’ too face closure.
The two limping textile mills are facing severe crisis as the obsolete machinery are producing poor quality materials at a slow pace, owing to which the parties are now unwilling to produce yarn and fabric under the contractual ‘Service Charge System’.

After suspension of production at all the 24 units of the 20 textile mills of the Bangladesh Textile Mills Corporation (BTMC) by the government a decade ago, the authorities had introduced a commission-based service charge system to attract parties to produce yarn and fabrics at the BTMC mills at a relatively lower cost compared to the private textile mills.
In its desperate bid to survive after the government’s denial to continue funding for production, the BTMC initiated the contractual system with a view to generating salaries for its employees by keeping the mills operational.
Under this system, the contracted parties supply the raw materials to the respective mills at their own cost. The BTMC mills produce different counts of yarn or woolen fabrics within the available technical facilities at the mills as per the requirement of the parties. The mills get only a certain rate of service charge per bale from them. The responsibility of marketing of finished products again lies with the parties concerned.
But the obsolete machinery of the age-old BTMC mills have gradually become incapable of running at the desired pace, i.e. Rotation Per Minute (RPM), which ultimately results in poor quality and less production, compared to the modern technology of the private sector textile mills.
“Parties have lost interest in producing yarn and fabrics at the BTMC mills due to obsolete machinery,” said Mostafizur Rahman, secretary of the Collective Bargaining Agent (CBA) of the BTMC.
He said majority of the BTMC mills remained closed now, as the management had failed to secure further orders.
Rahman further said that at present, the contractual production was happening at a very limited scale at only two mills — Rajshahi Textile Mills and Bengal Textile Mills Ltd (Unit-2).

“After Ramadan, two units of Sundarban Textile Mills are supposed to resume operation as a deal with the some parties to produce yarn is in progress,” he said, adding, “But there is a slim possibility of reaching negotiation with parties for production at other mills.”

He said the BTMC had submitted a set of recommendations to the parliamentary standing committee on the Ministry of Jute and Textiles, including replacement of outdated machinery with new ones at the closed textile mills under public and private partnership (PPP) and stop illegal infiltration of yarn and cotton from outside the country.
“But there has been no positive response from the government,” said Monayem Talukder, president of the BTMC CBA.
The CBA president listed a number of reasons responsible for the present deplorable conditions of the BTMC mills, including age-old machinery, cumulated interest rate, complications of purchasing raw materials, excessive expenditures, frequent load shedding and unwanted meddling of trade unions.
After independence, the BTMC had embarked on its journey with 74 mills. Later 12 more mills were added to it. Of them, about 63 mills have already been transferred or sold out, according to official sources.
Between 1977 and 2006, about 35 mills were handed over to private sector, eight to the employees and labourers of respective mills, 17 were sold out and three others were liquidated.
At present, the BTMC controls 20 mills with 24 units. Of them, 17 mills are now out of production, as no service charge parties are there to support them.
According to Monayem, the buyers of finished product of the BTMC mills included government, semi-government and autonomous bodies of the country, while Biman Bangladesh Airlines was the main buyer of blankets.
However, despite much pestering, this correspondent failed to elicit any proper answer from the BTMC officials of and Ministry of Textiles and Jute as to the relaunch of the mills.
Even at the BTMC office, Acting Chairman of BTMC Mohammad Ershad Hossain on Tuesday denied to speak to this correspondent, while General Manager (Management Information System) Aziza Rahman preferred not to speak without the chairman’s approval.
However, an official of the Ministry of Textiles and Jute told The Independent that the BTMC was working on a new policy prioritising the need for its reforms.
He said the policy was in preliminary stage, which would require more time to complete. “To complete the long-term policy will take time,” said Md Emdadul Hoque, Joint Secretary (Policy) of the ministry.
Meanwhile, the CBA leaders alleged that the officials, including the chairman of BTMC, were reluctant to rejuvenate the textile mills. They hinted at certain interests of the officials, and blamed BTMC secretary Md Hekmat Ali in particular for his reluctance to move ahead in the matter.
Meanwhile, the Privatisation Commission recently floated tenders for sale of two BTMC mills — Rangamati Textile Mills Ltd and Magura Textile Mills Ltd.
The Commission sources said they had taken initiatives, which were already in progress to sell seven more BTMC mills — Quaderia Textile Mills Ltd, Sylhet Textile Mills, Darwani Textile Mills, Kurigram Textile Mills, Valika Woolen Mills Ltd, Ahmed Bawany Textile Mills Ltd and Chittaranjan Cotton Mills Ltd.
Other BTMC mills out of operation are Bengal Textile Mills Ltd-1, Amin Textiles Ltd-1, Amin Textiles Ltd-2, Dost Textile Mills Ltd, RR Textile Mills Ltd, Dinajpur Textile Mills
Ltd, National Cotton Mills Ltd, Tangail Cotton Mills Ltd, Khulna Textile mills Ltd, Satrang Textile Mills Ltd and Kokil Textile Mills Ltd.
The sources said only essential employees like managers and security guards were now serving the mills. Their salaries and wages had been subsidised by the government, they said.
At the BTMC head office, 150 manpower, including 70 officials, were serving at present, and their salaries came from the rent of the BTMC Bhaban, they said.