West Bengal government to take up jute industry issues with Centre

Kolkata: West Bengal government on Thursday held discussions with stakeholders of the jute industry and assured that their problems would be addressed.

The meeting took place in the wake of a recent incident in which a CEO of a jute mill was lynched by workers, The meeting which continued for more than two hours, was attended by Finance and Industry Minister Amit Mitra, Labour Minister Purnendu Basu, Education Minister Partha Chatterjee, and Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Subrata Mukherjee.

The industry was represented by members of the Indian Jute Mills Association (IJMA) and mill owners. Subrata Gupta, chairman of the Jute Commission, was also present.

"We had detailed discussions with the industry and their problems had been heard," Mitra told reporters after the meeting. He said that the government would now hold a meeting with the labour unions after which a report would be given to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Former IJMA chairman Sanjay Kajaria said the meeting saw a proactive role of the government. "They have supported non-dilution of mandatory packaging order and the government has assured that the issue will be taken up at a food ministry meeting in Delhi tomorrow," he said.

The state government also said it would explore the possibility of greater jute bag purchases by its agencies, Kajaria said. Three committees would also be formed to look into the diversification, training and modernisation aspects of jute mills, he added.

The state government had reviewed the status of the jute industry as livelihood of 2.5 lakh workers were involved, Jute Commissioner Subrata Gupta said adding, in the last three months, there had been a temporary shortfall in jute bag purchases by the Centre.

Earlier this month, the CEO of a jute mill was beaten to death allegedly by workers on factory premises. CEO of North Brook Jute Mill at Bhadreswar in Hooghly district neighbouring Kolkata HK Maheswari, around 60 years old, was badly beaten up by agitated factory workers when he rejected their demand for increase in weekly working hours so that they are paid more, Hooghly SP Sunil Chowdhury had said.