The West Bengal government onWednesday said all jute mills can reopen in the state but with only 15 per cent of the workforce and in strict adherence to social distancing norms.Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani had written to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday, urging her to give necessary directions to operationalise 18 jute mills, identified by the Centre, to deal with the shortage of bags for packaging foodgrains.Banerjee, earlier in the day, said picking and choosing jute mills will be akin to discrimination."How can I discriminate among jute mills? If I allow the mills to open, all of them should start functioning with all precautionary measures and using 15 per cent workforce," she said.The workforce will work on alternative days.On Wednesday, Union textile secretary wrote to the state chief secretary, urging him instruct all jute mills to operate according to guidelines issued by the home ministry.An official said as per protocol, the jute mills will have to seek permission from the state government to reopen.More than 2 lakh workers are directly dependent on jute mills in the state, which stopped operations since the lockdown was imposed.Indian Jute Mills Association (IJMA) Chairman Raghav Gupta said running the mills at such low capacity with only 15 per cent workers is not feasible."We will make a beginning, but at the same time, we estimate after abiding to all safety protocols of the government, we can operate at 66 per cent of capacity. We will submit our report in this regard and discuss with the government," Gupta said.Former IJMA chairman Sanjay Kajaria added, "We welcome the proposal to open all the jute mills. The IJMA has hired a top agency to make standard operating procedures for jute mills to be proposed to the state government in line with the MHA guidelines.
