Kolkata, Jan 3 (PTI) Two more jute mills - India Jute and Gondalpara Jute Mills - shut down in the first few days of the new year.
The jute mills each employing 4,000 workers owned by the same group issued `suspension of work 'notices.
Jute industry officials on Monday claimed the mills each employing around 4000 workers each under the same management were forced to close down over raw material concerns. Earlier last year about ten mills had taken similar steps.
The Indian Jute Mills Association has informed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the situation facing the industry, officials said.
The industry body in its letter to the chief minister claimed that more mills may be forced to issue `suspension of work 'notices. Bengal's mills have a history of issuing such notices on a variety of counts.
Jute industry in Bengal involves over 30 lakh jute farmers and 2.5 lakh mills workers, according to estimates by trade unions.
After the shut down by India Jute and Gondalpara, close to 30,000 mill workers have already lost jobs in a dozen odd jute mills. M ore mills are likely to close this week, industry officials claimed to PTI.
State government, labor unions and mill management blamed the rigid stand of the Center and the Jute Commissioner for the man-made crisis for "irrational" capping raw jute price.
The Jute Commissioner has set a cap of Rs 6500 per quintal for purchase of raw jute which millers claim is irrational and does not allow them to access most of the raw jute available as market prices are far above that.
The jute regulator, however, believes there is ample raw jute in the market, but hoarders are not allowing prices to come down, and fixing a ceiling price will help route supplies to mills.
The state labor minister Becharam Manna claimed the Center is acting at the behest of the plastic lobby by denying relaxation of price capping despite requests from the Chief Minister.
This is the first time when mills are not getting adequate raw jute despite record production. Center must increase the price cap to Rs 7100-7200 per quintal considering spurt in input cost of farmers, said Anadi Sahu, general secretary of the Bengal Chatkal (Jute Mill) Mazdoor Union.
However, he also said mill management are also to be blamed as they have also not cleared the dues of jute balers worth Rs 300-400 crore and about Rs 1,000 crore statutory dues of workers.
"We will agitate before the IJMA office on Friday and the labor department on January 10 highlighting the plight of the workers," Sahu said.
Tepcon International India Ltd, which manages the Hanuman Jute Mill in Howrah, last week had issued a notice for temporary suspension of work from Wednesday stating non-availability of raw jute at the ceiling price fixed by the Jute Commissioner.
The Center had recently turned down the request of jute mills to revise the raw jute fair price to Rs 7,200 per quintal in line with the current domestic and international prices.
Mills said states are desperately asking for jute bags to pack foodgrains procured from the farmers. "If raw jute price settles at Rs 6,500 per quintal farmers' price realization will suffer and discourage higher production," industry officials said.
