The government has funded Tk 1.40 billion as loan for payment of jute purchase dues, wages and festival allowances for jute mill workers, officials said.
Of them, some Tk 1.0 billion is for payment of outstanding wages and allowances for mill workers and Tk 400 million for payment of jute purchase dues.
Finance ministry released the non-development loan for Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC).
The tenure of the loan repayment will be 20 years, including a five-year grace period.
The loan has to be repaid in instalments every six months with a 5.0 per cent interest rate, according to an official document of the ministry.
Non-development loans are used only for payment of outstanding jute purchase dues, wages and allowances.
"The mills under the BJMC are limping for a lack of funds. For this reason, the employees of the state-run mills are in trouble," a BJMC official said.
The BJMC is one of the biggest employers in the country's industrial sector.
It has provided direct employment for some 70,000 workers and 5,500 officers and employees.
More than 50 million people are directly or indirectly dependent on the jute industry.
There are 26 mills, including three non-jute industries, under the BJMC. Of them, seven are in Dhaka zone, 10 in Chittagong zone and nine in Khulna zone.
Sources said the BJMC has two zonal offices for supervising and coordinating the activities of the regional mills.
