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Date-expired jute seeds gluts
Jhenaidah markets
Delwar Kabir . Jhenaidah

THE date-expired jute seeds smuggled into the country from across the border has flooded the markets in Jhenaidah on the eve of the jute cultivation season.
   Talking to New Age some jute growers said that the date -xpired and substandard jute seeds would not germinate properly and consequently the growth of jute plants on the fields would be blunted.
   Sources in the Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation said that their organisation preserved only five to six per cent of jute seeds of the country’s total requirement while the growers themselves preserved another five to six per cent. Ninety per cent of the total jute seeds is met by import from India.
   Jhenaidah requires nearly eight tonnes of jute seeds for the cultivation of jute on 10,000 hectares of land. Of this quantity, roughly one tonne of the jute seeds will be available locally and the requirement of the rest seven tonnes will be met by import, the sources added.
   The traders are either importing or smuggling different varieties of jute seeds from across the country. They include Bankim, Bangabeer and Mahambeej varieties.
   A two-kilogram packet of Indian jute seeds is selling at Tk 360 to 370.
   Several growers complained that DAE and BADC authorities seem to be indifferent to the sale of date-expired and substandard jute seeds at different markets across this frontier district.
   They expressed their apprehension that the target of raw jute production fixed at 24,000 tonnes for this year would not be achieved if the growers use date-expired jute seeds for the cultivation of the golden fibre.
   When contacted, the officials of BADC and DAE said they heard about the sale of date-expired jute seeds.
   A BADC official said they would take action if the buyers came to them along with the identity of the traders selling date-expired and substandard jute seeds.

25,470 tonnes of sugar remain
unsold in Natore
Our Correspondent . Natore

NEARLY 25,470 tonnes of sugar worth about Tk 73 crore 86 thousand and 30 thousand of two sugar mills in Natore remains unsold as the price of locally produced sugar is higher than imported sugar.
   The two sugar mills are Natore Sugar Mills and North Bengal Sugar Mills.
   The mill source said that one tonne of locally produced
   sells at Tk 29,000 whereas
   the imported sugar is available at Tk 25,000 to 25,500 per tonne.
   As sugar has remained unsold the authorities of the two mills are now unable to pay the arrear dues of the sugarcane growers to the tune of Tk 16 core.
   The Natore Sugar Mills produced about 15,248 tonnes after crushing 2,11,150 tonnes of sugarcane till March 29 and sold 5,309 tonnes out of it.
   About 9.939 tonnes of sugar valued at Tk 28 crore 82 lakh and 31 thousand remain stockpiled at the Natore Sugar Mills. It owes taka seven crore to the sugarcane growers.
   The production of the North Bengal Sugar Mills stands at 15,531 tonnes worth Tk 54 crore 3 lakh and 99 thousand. The outstanding dues of the sugarcane growers amounted to Tk 9 crore, according to mill sources.
   Sheikh Taib Ali of Natore Sugar Mills and sugar traders called upon the government to impose higher custom duties on the imported sugar and take strong measures for stopping smuggling into the country to save the local sugar industry.
   Meanwhile, the Pabna correspondent of New Age adds : Failing to sell sugar the management of the Pabna Sugar Mills is unable to clear the outstanding dues of the sugarcane growers totalling about Tk five crore and employees to the tune of taka one crore.
   Sugar worth Tk 30 crore of this mill remains unsold Apprehending unrest in the mill areas the managed closed down the mill on Wednesday.

Man killed in road crash
Our Correspondent . Comilla

A MAN was killed and three were injured when two trucks rammed into a microbus on the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway at Chhapua under Chauddagram upazila in Comilla on Friday night.
   The dead was Billal Hossain alias Shaikot, 32, of village Noor of No-2 Ujirpur union under the upazila.
   The two trucks rammed into a Feni-bound microbus at about 9:30pm, killing one of the microbus passengers on the spot. The injured were admitted to Comilla Medical College Hospital. A case was filed with the local police station.

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