In yet another case of attack against factory officials in West Bengal, a suspension of work notice was put up in a paper mill in Burdwan district after a supervisor was assaulted by labourers suspected to have allegiance to the INTTUC, Trinamool Congress labour wing.
Taraknath Das, a supervisor of the Sunita Paper Mill, today claimed that the management had declared suspension of work after some labourers beat up another superviser three days ago.
A group of labourers holding INTTUC banners staged a dharna at the gate of the factory, located in the Orgram Industrial Area, demanding its reopening.
However, INTTUC Bhatar block president Akai Mullick said that the workers sitting in dharna did not belong to his trade union and that it was they who had assaulted the supervisor, Rakesh Gupta, three days ago and the mill was closed since then.
An agitating worker claimed that the mill management was a poor paymaster and if anyone dared to protest, he would be either sacked or slapped with a police complaint.
The assault on the superviser was the result of one such protest-demonstrations triggered by the high-handedness of the management, he said.
The mill, which was opened in 2002, has about 100 labourers on its roll and the average monthly production is 700 tonnes.
On June 15, this year the CEO of North Brook jute mill at Hooghly district's Bhadreswar, H K Maheswari, was beaten to death by agitating workers who were demanding an increased working hours.
Earlier this month, the Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) had put up a work suspension notice at J K Nagar colliery at Raniganj in Burdwan district following assault of one of its officials allegedly by a Trinamool Congress trade union leader.
