Textiles ministry yet to approve alternative jute bags

The woes of the ailing jute industry do not seem to be over even after the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) turned down the proposal for a 25 per cent dilution in jute packaging norms last month.

The Union textiles ministry is yet to approve two alternate jute bags even though these bags were developed by the Indian Jute Industries Research Association (IJIRA) nearly one year back under the patronage of the Indian Jute Mills Association (Ijma), the apex body of the industry.

Two alternate light weight bags- DW plain sacking bags and SW plain hessian bags were developed by IJIRA for packing food grains and sugar. The bags were developed to manage yearly supply defaults to different state governments and Food Corporation of India (FCI).

It may be noted that Punjab, Haryana, Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa are the jute industry’s major consumer consuming almost 40 per cent of the total production of jute bags.

Even as the approval of these alternate light weight jute bags is due for the past one year, IJIRA has developed another category of light weight jute bags.

The new type of bags are lighter in weight than the ones currently used and are supposed to be used as alternate bags during times of supply crisis.

These bags have been developed by IJIRA in response to the Union government's accusations that the industry has failed to keep its supply commitments.

During the 61-day strike in the jute industry from December 14, 2009 to February 14, the jute industry had defaulted on supply of around 41,000 bales to Punjab.

In each agriculture season, the government requires an average of one million bales of B-Twill jute bags weighing 665 gm to be supplied to different state food procuring agencies and Food Corporation of India (FCI) under the Public Distribution System (PDS). The proposed weight of the new bag is 475 gm manufactured on Hessian loom and 665 gm on sacking loom. This would have given a cost benefit to the industry and also ensured committed supply.

Industry sources said, in 2009, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) had accepted developing of the alternate bags after receiving trial reports from the Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD) of the Centre.