Even after 15 years, Khulna Textile Palli project continues to struggle against legal cases filed against it.
Consequently, a project that could have ensured jobs for 28,000 people has fallen under great uncertainty as a direct result of these unresolved cases.
Khulna Textile Mills was closed down on June 19, 1993 in the face of incurring incessant losses and the Ministry of Finance in 1999 took a decision of setting a textile village there, and flouted a tender in 2002 to sell the mill equipment to make way for the village.
In 2008, Bangladesh Textile Mills Corporation (BTMC) divided the mill area into 25 plots to establish the textile village and announced a tender in this regard.
With the announcement, one Mohammad Ali filed a writ petition claiming himself a share owner of the defunct textile mill, and as a result the BTMC compelled to halt its move.
At one stage, the Rupali Bank Khulna branch filed a case with the High Court seeking a status quo on the tender and demanded repayment of its Tk2.9 crore loan from the mill authorities, of which Tk50 lakh was paid, with a promise of full payment in the next six months. However, the case has remained under trial as the bank has yet to resolve differences with the mill authorities.
In 2011, a man named Majid Sarker filed a case with a local court claiming his land falls inside the mill area, which was later dismissed as he failed to show any papers in favour of his claim.
However, he on May 30 this year filed a new case with another court on the same claim, which is now under trial.
Khulna Textile Palli Project General Secretary Md Saifur Rahman particularly blamed the land related case as the chief obstacle, and said all the problems could be dealt with if this particular case was resolved soon. However, the High Court has yet to fix any date for the hearing.
Greater Khulna Unnayon Songram Committee President Sheikh Ashraf Uzzaman said the locals have become very hopeful of the project following assuming power by the ruling AL for the second time, and he urged upon the government to implement it at any cost.
