Gouripur Jute Mill at Naihati to open after 25 years

In a rare precedent in the history of jute mills in the country, Gouripur Jute Mill at Naihati in North 24-Parganas is all set to open up after 25 years.

An agreement regarding opening of the jute mill was signed among five trade unions, the party which will be running the mill and the Labour department in the presence of state Labour and Law minister Moloy Ghatak, MLA Naihati Partha Bhowmick who is also the state Irrigation and Waterways minister and senior officials of the Labour department. The maintenance of the old jute mill will start from February 20 as per agreement and production in phases is expected to start in another 30 days time.

There were some 4000-odd workers in the mill when it closed down in December 1998. A majority of them have attained their retirement age. The unions have been asked to make a list of the workers who are still fit or willing to work in the mill. If a worker has died, his son, if interested, will get preference in work.

According to sources, many families of the jute mill workers had shifted to Bihar, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh after the mill’s closure. “A few days back while the ongoing Budget session was in progress in the state Assembly, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asked me to take steps to open up the jute mill that was closed for a long time.

The matter was taken up with priority and we managed to rope in an interested party. A tripartite agreement was signed and accordingly it is opening up,” Ghatak said.

State president of INTTUC, Ritabrata Banerjee said: “A number of jute mills that have closed down during the erstwhile Left Front rule in Bengal have opened up with the initiative of the present government prodded by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.”