West Bengal jute mills close down as orders dry up

Seven jute mills in West Bengal were closed in the past two months apparently due to lack of orders and confusion over implementation of productivity linked wages leaving over 25,000 people unemployed, industry sources said.

One-fifth or 12 of the 60 jute mills in the state, including Titagarh jute mills, Hastings jute mills and Soorah jute mills of MP Birla group company are at present either under lock-out or suspension of work.

The state government convened meetings with the Indian Jute Mills Association (IJMA), the apex body of jute mills, but nothing concrete emerged.

However, experts pointed out that suspension of work by most mills on the ground of non-implementation of productivity-linked wages and alleged indecent behaviour of workers was just an 'excuse' as most of them were not receiving orders from government agencies following the directive of the Union textiles ministry for Dilution of Jute Packaging and Materials Act, 1987.

The dilution order was challenged in various courts and a stay obtained from a division bench of the Calcutta High Court but the impasse continued, the sources said.

"Meetings have also been held at the Union government level, but nothing concrete has emerged so far," they added.

"We had explained in the meeting that there is no order on the books of almost all mill companies. With mounting cost of raw materials and wages, almost all mills were incurring large losses and this was the main reason for their closure," IJMA chairman Sanjay Kajaria said.