Expressing hope that the lost glory of jute will return through the present government's initiatives, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said the conspiracies to destroy the jute sector would not work anymore.

She said this while addressing a programme marking National Jute Day at Krishibid Institution in the capital.

The prime minister said, "The fate of country's people, including farmers and workers, is interwoven with it. So, we're giving due importance to it. The golden days of jute will make a comeback."

Hasina said like the export potentials of RMG and ICT sectors, there was also a bright prospect for boosting jute production and its exports through diversified jute products.

Research is necessary for diversification of the use of jute, Hasina said, adding that Bangladesh had also invented "polythene from jute", which would not pollute the environment as it was bio-degradable.

The prime minister said research was now going on to boost the production of jute, increase its diversified use and enhance various area-wise productions.

Hasina regretted that the jute sector had witnessed massive disasters after the assassination of the Father of the Nation in 1975 as most of the jute mills were then sold out at nominal prices.

She said the BNP-Jamaat alliance fulfilled the last episode of the attempt of destroying the jute sector by closing down the biggest Adamjee Jute Mills in 2002. The government has taken various steps to give the sector a new life and reopen the closed jute mills, she said.

Earlier, the prime minister handed over awards to different organisations and individuals in 10 categories for their contributions in advancing the jute sector.