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Jute industry mulls shifting base from West Bengal

Captains of the jute industry in West Bengal indicated on Tuesday that they might shift the industry base to other state if law and order remained uncontrolled.

They were referring to the brutal violence in the Baranagar Jute Mill where two executives were burnt to death and a worker shot dead last week.

"Other states like Andhra Pradesh has much more conducive environment in all respects starting from wage payment to law and order," Sanjay Kajaria, chairman of Indian Jute Mills Association, told newsmen.

"If nothing comes out immediately to control law and order, the jute industry will die a natural death in the state," he said referring to the violence in Baranagar Jute Mill, second oldest jute mill in the state.

"I will be the last person to set up a new unit in the state under the present situation," said Arun Bajoria, who owns almost 11 of the 59 jute mills in the state.

To a question on whether the management too was responsible for the Baranagar incident, other mill owners present said, "the management might be at some fault or other, but that does not mean that they should kill someone.

Industry shocked at Baranagar incident, wants CM to intervene

The crisis-ridden jute industry said that the shocking incident at Baranagar Jute Mill was the result of growing "militant trade unionism" and vowed to face the menace in a united manner.

The captains of jute industry held an emergency meeting under the banner of Indian Jute Mills Association to chalk out strategies in the wake of killing of two top executives of Baranagar Jute Mills on Saturday and warned that they would not tolerate these things.

"This was not an isolated incident and it has happened in all the mills for a number of occasion. The workers had generated a tendency to organise violent demonstrations even over petty issues," IJMA chairman Sanjay Kajaria said after the meeting.

The meeting resolved to seek an urgent appointment with Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to discuss the latest incident as well as the growing problem of militant trade unionism in the industry as a whole.

The jute barons looked shaken due to the macabre incident last weekend when chief executive and general manager (personnel) of the mill were dragged out of their office by angry workers and burnt alive after a worker was shot dead in a stand-off.

The incident like this had never happened in the history of the industry and the most worrying factor was that it had happened despite several complaints to this effect with the government, Arun Bajoria, one of the leading jute baron, said.

They, however, said earlier individual mills used to bring to the notice of government the incidents like assault of managerial staff, but this time they will move together.