The Indian Jute Mills Association (IJMA) blamed the government for not only providing adequate security to jute mills, but also for its unwillingness to hold elections for a bargaining agent to negotiate on wages and other issues.
Speaking at a press conference to condemn the growing unrest in the jute mills, Sanjay Kajaria, president of IJMA, said, "In the last two-three years, the situation has deteriorated in jute mills, due to inter party and intra party rivalry.
The district magistrate is not listening to our grievances, and the police is giving us a hint that we have to live up with this. Even after fifty phone calls made to the local police station, no help reached the Titagarh jute mill, when the murder took place there."
On the issue of a common bargaining agent, Kajaria said, "There is no political will to carry out elections for the purpose, even though the labour law has got provisions for the appointment of such an agent."
The association recently wrote to the state chief minister minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and described the mill morder as an example of "the highest levels of crime and labour millitancy".
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Kajaria claimed that as many as 33 labour unions were operating in one jute mill in West Bengal, without naming the mill.
IJMA said 40 lakh jute growers were threatened by militant labour groups.
Presently, out of the 59 jute mills in West Bengal, 52 were operating and had employee strength of more than 2 lakh.
More than 40 lakh farm families are depended on jute.
Two lakh workers were threatening the interest of so many farming families, Kajaria said, because labour militancy could shut down mills.
He said the present situation was not new, as a similar incident took place in January 2001 in which two senior executives and one worker in Baranagore Jute Mill were killed.
No one was punished.
Many scattered and isolated incidents were disturbing the local management and industry, he added.