Gyanchand Upadhyay, the manager who was manhandled; damaged furniture on the mill premises. (Ananda Das)

Bhadreswar, Nov. 8: Over a thousand employees of a Hooghly jute mill ransacked the main office and the CEO’s bungalow on its premises this morning, fearing that a notice announcing the shutdown of a section meant some of them were set to lose their jobs.

Sources said nearly 1,500 workers of Victoria Jute Mill in Hooghly’s Bhadreswar went on the rampage, breaking doors and smashing windows and furniture in the main administrative building and the computer room. They also targeted the mill CEO R.K. Singh’s bungalow.

A manager of the mill’s finishing department, Gyanchand Upadhyay, was punched, shoved, hauled by the collar and thrashed when he tried to explain to the workers of the hessian section — it produces jute fabric — that they would be shifted to the sack-making division, not retrenched.

Doctors treating him at a Chandernagore hospital said he had not suffered any major injury and was stable.

The incident comes a day after a Ficci member, K.S. Mehta, raised questions on labour problems and factory deaths in Bengal at a Ficci executive meet attended by Mamata Banerjee.

After the chief minister blamed them on faulty media reports, the chairperson of Ficci’s Bengal State Council, Gaurav Swaroop, said: “I don’t think there is any major issue in the state with respect to labour. The industrial peace in the state has improved dramatically…. There may be certain sporadic issues but otherwise the overall situation is as good as anywhere else and maybe better.”

Trouble began today when about 300 workers of the hessian section reported for work at 6am. “We saw a notice saying the section would be closed down and that workers would be shifted to the sack-making section,” said Sahadat Hussein, a 32-year-old worker.

“We got worried by the notice. Many of us thought this was the first step to losing our jobs. Some workers told others and word spread. Soon, over 1,000 people gathered, raising anti-management slogans. At one point, the crowd fury erupted,” Hussein said.

About 10 policemen, posted overnight on the mill premises, were unable to control the workers. Things calmed down only after reinforcements from nearby police stations arrived. Five workers have been detained, the police said.

Mill CEO Singh said leaders of 15 trade unions had been informed on November 6 about the closure and transfer proposal. “They did not say anything then. Today’s agitation was fuelled by outsiders.”

Prabhat Ghosh, the secretary of the Citu-affiliated Bengal Chatkal Mazdoor Union at the mill, said the management was blaming his union for today’s agitation.

“That is not true. Today’s protests were a spontaneous reaction of workers from all unions. We had submitted a memorandum saying hessian workers would find it difficult to work in the sack-making section. We feel the move is a precursor to closing down the mill section by section.”

Industry sources said the reason for the clash at Victoria Jute Mill was not different from recent protests at other mills. A mill owner said: “It is no secret that the industry is suffering from lack of orders. Most mill owners are looking to downsize or relocate workers…. This seems to have irked some Victoria mill workers…. We have seen similar cases in Angus, Hastings and Indian Jute Mills too.”