FAMILY ALBUM: Amalendu Pal Chowdhury with his wife, two daughters and granddaughter

Thirty-two years after Amalendu Pal Chowdhury lost his job in a jute mill, and 14 years after he lost his life, his family is still fighting for his dues.

In September 1976, the resident of Krishnagar was terminated from service as superviser of Meghna Jute Mill in Jagaddal, North 24-Parganas. Despite directives from the state labour department, the Pal Chowdhurys have been denied their dues for decades.

“The mill authorities did not assign any reason and Baba had appealed to the labour department for justice. The labour department then referred the matter to the fifth industrial tribunal,” said Maitrayee Dutta, the elder daughter of Pal Chowdhury, who now lives in Dum Dum.

The fifth industrial tribunal passed an order in favour of Pal Chowdhury on May 28, 1987, stating that he be reinstated in the job with arrears. “Despite the order, the Meghna Mills authorities did not comply with the order,” claimed Maitrayee. The jute mill authorities had moved Calcutta High Court seven times against the labour department’s move and the tribunal’s order, but all the writ petitions were rejected.

In 1988, Pal Chowdhury moved the second labour court to get his dues. The court passed an order on October 24, 1989, directing the mill authorities to pay him Rs 1.76 lakh in dues. In 1991, the state government’s labour department on the basis of the court directive, issued an order asking the mill authorities to clear the dues. “... the said amount is so due to the said workman.… the governor is pleased hereby to issue a certificate for recovery of... Rs 1,76,288.40p from Meghna Mills Co Ltd....” the order stated.

The mill authorities then submitted in writing to the chief judicial magistrate’s court, Barasat, that they would pay the dues in “easy instalments”. But after coughing up Rs 6,500 in five instalments, the payment stopped.

Pal Chowdhury suffered a stroke at his Krishnagar house on November 9, 1994, and died. “We were in dire straits,” recounted Tapashi Pal Chowdhury, his widow. “With help from friends and relatives, who supported us financially, we continued the fight. But till date nothing has been done.”

Amalendu Pal Chowdhury’s widow and two daughters (younger daughter Gargi Mukherjee also lives in Krishnagar) regularly do the rounds of the labour department where officials assure them every time that “the process is over” and they would “get the money soon”.

The mill authorities said they were not aware of the developments. “It is a very old case and we have to look into the details since we were not in charge of the mill then. We are ready to meet the family members and settle the issue amicably,” said R.K. Modi, the manager of Meghna Jute Mill.