June 1: Dalhousie Jute Mill closed down one its units in Hooghly this morning, leaving around 5,000 workers jobless.

The workers of the jute mill in Champdani found a notice by the management at the main gate when they came for work. Production had been suspended at the mill since April 29 following protests over daily wages and additional work pressure.

"The central government is emphasising on modernisation of jute mills to increase productivity. Many mills are looking to replace their old equipment with modern machines that requires less labour. This mill was also upgrading. The workers had been protesting against this," a source said.

The mill has a production capacity of around 120 tonnes a day.