Closed jute mills to reopen in ten days: Moloy Ghatak

Most of the closed jute mills in the state would reopen in the next ten days, said the State Labour minister, Moloy Ghatak. Soon after the Mamata Banerjee government returned to power for the second time with an overwhelming majority in May this year, the state Labour minister’s initiative had helped to reopen quite a few number of mills.

He said that Prabortok Jute Mill in Hooghly will reopen on August 7 and around 2,600 workers will get back their jobs with the reopening of the jute mills. The jute mill in Hooghly was closed on April 26.

The decision to reopen the mill was taken during a tripartite meeting involving the state government, mill owners and representatives of the employees.

The minister said that Wellington Jute Mills at Rishra in Hooghly is expected to reopen on August 10 following a tripartite meeting on August 9. The mill is closed for the past four and a half months.

There are some more closed jute mills in districts including Howrah and North 24-Parganas.

The initiative has been taken to reopen all within the next seven to ten days. The Calcutta Jute Mill at Beliaghata will also reopen soon.

It may be mentioned that at present, there are 61 jute mills in the state and 5 out of those are under the Centre. The state government is taking necessary steps to keep all the jute mills running in a healthy condition. 

The jute mills were closed or work was suspended in the factories due to the shortage in supply of raw jute.

“The bad phase is over and now, there is sufficient supply of raw materials. Thus, there is no reason to keep the mills closed,” Ghatak said adding that the state government is pumping in all effort to let workers of the jute mills earn their livelihood without facing any trouble.

There are many places in districts including Howrah, Hooghly and North 24-Parganas where the economy of the area was completely dependable on the smooth functioning of the jute mills.

Samar Das, an employee of a jute mill at Ghusiri in Howrah said, “It is not only the employees of the jute mills who suffer when it remains closed, but hundreds of people, whose business is dependable on the smooth functioning of the mills, get affected badly. As a result, the economic stability in the area gets disturbed. Thus, we are thankful to the State Labour minister for taking immediate steps to reopen the mills.”