The Hindu Business Line : JCI staff seek merger with National Jute Board

Employees of Jute Corporation of India Ltd (JCI) are of the opinion that there is a multiplicity of activities with the recently created National Jute Board by merging Jute Manufacturers Development Council (JMDC) and National Centre for Jute Diversification (NCJD).

In a letter to the Union Minister for Textiles, Mr Shankersinh Vaghela, the employees of Jute Corporation have urged him to consider merging their organisation with the National Jute Board.

According to Mr Dilip Kumar Guha, chief advisor of JCI Field Union, there are several areas of multiplicity of activities and effort between Jute Corporation and National Jute Board.

These include better marketing and stabilisation of raw jute prices, standardisation of raw jute, undertaking measures for quality control, registration of jute growers, development of new markets and others.

"We have already discussed the matter with the members of the Standing Committee of Parliament. They had accepted our view point," Mr Guha told Business Line.

Unlike JMDC and NCJD, JCI is a Central public sector corporate. It was created to help raw jute farmers get a remunerative price and to stabilise raw jute prices.

Over the years, JCI has helped farmers in different ways but most of that would now be taken care by the National Jute Board.

The Jute Corporation employees argued that their organisation has an "impressive infrastructure" with 171 purchase centres and 16 regional offices.

Moreover, it has tie-ups with 100 State and village level co-operative societies.

"The National Jute Board can use our infrastructure, otherwise they would have to build new infrastructure which would require enormous amount of money and time," Mr Guha said.

As an alternative arrangement, they have suggested in the letter that the National Jute Board's activities be reduced and total freedom be given to Jute Corporation.

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