Eastern Chemical Industries closes

FT ONLINE

Eastern Chemical Industries (ECI) Ltd, a unit of the Freedom Fighters Welfare Trust, has been closed for incurring losses continuously.

The authority concerned has already announced the closure of the mill located in Rangunia of Chattogram.

Some workers alleged that the mill was closed as part of a 'conspiracy' of high officials to hand over its land and property to the private sector.

Md Harun, ECI Deputy Manager, said the mill had been counting losses for last 10 years.

Despite steps taken to revive the mill, the authority could not turn it into a profitable one. It has a working capital of Tk 20 million (2.0 crore) only, he said.

So, production at the mill has been suspended as per the decision taken at a board meeting of the Trust authority, said Mr Harun.

All formalities regarding closure of the industry were completed, he said.

June 30 was the last day of the mill's operation, he added.

The mill workers vented their anger over the decision.

Four officials, 24 employees and 12 workers were employed at the mill apart from 40 others employed on a temporary basis.

The workers said the high-ups of the Welfare Trust were negotiating with the private-sector entrepreneurs to lease out the land to them for building a container depot.

The mill was making profits until 2015 while other organisations of the Freedom Fighters Welfare Trust were running on government subsidy, the workers claimed.

Welfare Trust officials in the port city said the parliamentary standing committee on the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs in its meeting on April 06, 2016 recommended constructing two high-rise buildings on the land owned by the ECI in the Agrabad Commercial Area and leasing out the factory and its adjacent forest land for building a private container depot.

As the recommendations of the parliamentary standing committee were brought to the notice of ruling party lawmaker and former minister Dr Hassan Mahmud, he took necessary steps to continue the operation of the industrial until.

Later, the move for leasing out the factory was suspended.

However, the factory authority transferred most of the permanent mill workers to other enterprises under the FF Welfare Trust except the temporary workers over the last one year and a half.

Since then, the mill remained practically closed.

The ECI is one of the nine industries and commercial enterprises under the FF Welfare Trust which were left out by the owners during their Liberation War in 1971.

The Government of Bangladesh formed the welfare trust for the freedom fighters, confiscated the enterprises and placed them under trust with an administrator for each of them to help the distressed freedom fighters earn from those enterprises.

Multiple Juice Plant, another industry under the Trust, located in Mohra Industrial Area near Kalurghat in the city, was leased out to the private sector long ago, sources said.

The Trust decided to construct a multi-purpose high-rise building after demolishing the existing Almas and Dinar Cinema Halls in Kazir Dewri area of the city, they added.

Bawani Group of Industries set up the ECI on 10.1 acres of land at Noagaon village under the Rangunia municipality in 1965 to produce formalin.

Apart from 10 acres of land, the ECI owns another 15 acres of hilly land adjacent to the factory which is lying unused.