Kolkata, Jan. 7 -- Trinamool Congress (TMC) Rajya Sabha MP Ritabrata Banerjee has written to Union Textiles minister Giriraj Singh protesting the Centre's decision to allow large-scale use of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP) plastic bags for foodgrain procurement in the RMS 2026-27 season, describing it as a state-sanctioned dilution of jute.

Banerjee said the move to replace jute bags with plastic on a large scale would push farmers into crisis. He pointed out that by allocating 9.22 lakh bales of plastic bags (one bale comprising 500 bags) across states and the Food Corporation of India (FCI), the Centre has effectively withdrawn assured demand from the jute sector at a time when it is already under severe stress. He termed the decision the culmination of two years of policy failure by the Ministry of Textiles.

Rejecting the Centre's justification of "scarcity", Banerjee argued that the shortage was not natural but the direct outcome of policy paralysis. No buffer was created when prices were low, he wrote, and jute was sidelined when prices rose. The impact, he said, is already evident, with farmers-who had earlier faced distress sales due to weak enforcement of the minimum support price (MSP)-now staring at an uncertain future as plastic is formally introduced as a substitute. He further stated that lakhs of workers are losing employment days as jute mills curtail shifts and suspend operations owing to the shrinking of assured demand. Flagging a serious environmental contradiction, the Trinamool Congress MP said that while the Central government publicly advocates sustainability and reduction of single-use

plastics, the Ministry of Textiles has endorsed the replacement of a renewable, biodegradable and labour-intensive Indian fibre with petroleum-based plastic packaging.

A few days earlier, Banerjee had also written to Singh warning that the jute sector was slipping into a "serious economic and social crisis" and seeking urgent Central intervention for the Bengal raw jute industry.

In that letter, he said the prevailing situation-marked by acute scarcity of raw jute, sharp price volatility, curtailment of mill operations and loss of employment-was not sudden but the cumulative result of policy shortcomings over the past few years.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.