Calcutta, May 22: The eclipse of the jute industry in Bengal progressed steadily with the owners of the Hanuman Jute Mill of north Howrah hanging a suspension of work notice on its gates today — barely 48 hours after the Fort William Mill in the same district did so — rendering 4,500 employees jobless.
Of the 15 mills in Howrah, three closed down just before the Lok Sabha polls and two more immediately after.
“The management had asked us to sign a 10-point memorandum, which goes against the workers’ interest,” alleged a worker demonstrating in front of the mill gate this morning. Police had a tough time dispersing the protesters.
The workers complained that the management told them they would not be paid dearness allowance or gratuity and that they must be satisfied with a daily wage of Rs 100. “The management also planned to introduce contract services in some departments and bring down the number of employees. We wanted to discuss the issues but the owners never gave us any time to decide,” complained Nemai Samanta, district secretary of the Citu, the CPM’s labour arm.
But an official of the Hanuman mill said: “The labourers sit idle during work hour and production is hampered.”
According to the mill union representatives, an appeal has been made to chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and the labour minister Mohammad Amin. “The government has called us for a meeting on Monday,” Samanta added.
State labour commissioner Rajpal Singh Kahlon said this is the seventh jute mill, of the state’s 69 located in Howrah, Hooghly and North and South 24-Parganas, to have closed down over the last month.
Kahlon said the mill owners are in panic over the textile ministry’s decision on April 16 to dilute the earlier order on packaging using jute. It was mandatory to use jute for packaging all foodgrains and 90 per cent of all sugar produce. According to the new notification, the use of gunny bags for foodgrain packaging has been reduced to 60 per cent and for sugar to 50 per cent.
“This has brought down the market of jute and naturally the industry is suffering,” said Sanjay Kajaria, chairman of the Indian Jute Mills Association.
Calcutta High Court yesterday restrained the Centre from giving effect to the new notification and posted the next hearing after the summer vacation.