Authorities in Bangladesh have finally floated a tender for sale of industrial plots for a textile zone in Khulna that faced a delay of 18 years for legal implications before a High Court order recently erased all of it.
Already, a survey report of the project and its design has been sent to Bangladesh Textile Mills Corporation (BTMC) head office in Dhaka.
Sources say, in 1931 the mill was started in Acharya Prafulla Chandra Cotton Mill on 25 acres of land on the western side of the New Market in Boyra area of Khulna city. It was named as Khulna Textile Mills Limited in 1960. After the liberation of Bangladesh, the mill was nationalised in 1972 by the President’s order. In 1993, the Government announced the lay-off and it has remained closed since then.
In 1999, an initiative was taken to establish a textile village on the land of closed Khulna Textile Mill but in 2001 after a change in Government, the project was suspended.
However, in the first period of the present Government in 2009, the work of establishing a textile village was again initiated. But, it was delayed because of a case filed by Rupali Bank Limited before independence to release a loan amounting to BDT 2.8 crores.
Then again, when work resumed after a settlement, another writ petition was filed by businessman Mahmud Ali Mridha, who claimed a shared ownership of the mill worth BDT 1 crore.
Finally, in August 2017, the High Court dismissed the case, prompting BTMC to take up implementation of the project again.
In-charge of Khulna Textile Mill, Mizanur Rahman, has said that there is now no legal bar in the implementation of the project.
BTMC’s Chief Engineer Ranjan Sarkar said tenders have been called on November 26, 2017, to sell 24 plots of different sizes to kick off the initial phase of the project. It will be open until January 9, 2018.
Khulna Textile Zone Implementation Committee Convener and Secretary General Sheikh Mosharraf Hossain said the project could not be implemented due to the case so far. But now there is no legal issue. If the project is implemented, it will open up new employment opportunities.
