Chinsurah, June 7: Two jute mills in Hooghly that were struggling to get orders like many others in the sector suspended work temporarily this morning.

Northbrook Jute Mill in Champdani has 4,500 workers, and India Jute Mills in Serampore has around 3,500 hands.

The suspension was announced a day after Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi visited workers of Wellington Jute Mill, just 3km from India Jute, and was told about the plight of the industry.

The notice put up by India Jute Mills said that in trying times when the price of raw jute has risen "abnormally high, and there is a lack of demand for finished goods", workers "failed to co-operate with the management" by not "giving productivity as per agreed norms, interfering in the management's function, idling away and wasting time during duty hours".

An India Jute management official said: "Over the last one month, the mill had to be closed twice because employees did not turn up, protesting our refusal to take back eight workers." Asked about the company's allegation, Anway Chatterjee, the INTTUC general secretary of India Jute, said: "The mill was closed only once for this from May 10 to 12. The eight workers were unwell." The Northbrook notice also spoke of "unco-operative" workers.#