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No production at Khulna Newsprint Mill for 4 days |
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December 13, 2000
Khulna-- (UNB) – Lack of running capital and raw materials have forced the authorities of debt-ridden Khulna Newsprint Mill (KNM) to cease its production. “There was no production in the mill for the last four days since Saturday,” said an official. Mill sources said local depots of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) stopped petroleum supply to the mill due to non-payment of bills. Earlier, production in the mill was ceased for a week due to petroleum shortage. KNM also owes Tk 56 crore to Sonali Bank. The Finance Ministry was learnt to have taken a step to sanction fresh loan through the Sonali bank to restore production in the mill. Official sources said the Finance and Industries Ministries sanctioned a grant of Tk 16 crore to keep the mill open and the mill authorities accordingly took in advance an amount of Tk two crore from the grant to resume its production on Oct 29. From the advance money, KNM paid Tk 50 lakh to the BPC dealers and Tk 80 lakh as salaries of its staff, and it bought pulp worth of Tk 20 lakh. Meanwhile, the Sundarbans Department stopped supplying ‘geowa’ wood to the mill demanding immediate repayment of its outstanding bills. When contacted the KNM project director told UNB, “the mill authorities had sought Tk 16 crore to the Industries Ministry in April last to keep on its production, but the sanctioned money has not yet reached the authorities.” An official at the KNM’s Production Department said some 500 tons of pulp have been brought from Sweden to resume production, which are likely to reach the Mongla Port within two weeks. The authorities are also planning to import 4,000 mts of OCC. Another source said the newspaper industry would plunge into a crisis if the production in the mill remains suspended for a long time. At present, country’s 147 national and local dailies, and 68 weeklies use KNM newsprint. |