The Jute Commissioner’s (JC) office has cautioned against a central government proposal to exempt wheat from the ambit of the mandatory packaging act, saying that the move will impact the jute industry. The JC in their presentation at the meeting of the Committee of Secretaries under the Cabinet Secretary held on April 22 has highlighted that 14.2 million mandays of job loss would be affected if the Rabi crop was brought out of the Jute Packaging Materials (Compulsory Use in Packaging Commodities) Act, 1947. “We have pointed that total mandays involved in Rabi crop is 14.2 million and no way it can be compensated by alternate means if wheat is exempted from the jute packaging act in one go,” Jute Commissioner Subrata Gupta told PTI.
