“Of the 16 mills, five have been closed down in the last four days mainly due to raw material crisis. We have apprehension that another 10 units may announce the closure of operations in the next few days,” an official of Indian Jute Mills’ Association told .
A crisis in West Bengal’s jute sector is looming large as around 16 mills have been shut down recently due to a growing scarcity of raw material and shortage of labourers arising out of restrictions imposed by the state government to contain the spread of COVID-19, officials of an industry body said on Thursday.
Closure of these mills rendered around 50,000 workers jobless, they said.
Around 2.5 lakh labourers work at 60 odd jute mills in the state.
“Delay in payments of jute bags by the government has also aggravated the situation,” another official of the millers’ body said.
Without a steady cash flow, mill owners may struggle to pay wages to their labourers, he said.
“The Centre and the state government must pay attention to resolve the crisis in the jute industry. Given the current situation surrounding Narada issue, we are not so optimistic ..
Source: The Economic Times. Published on May 20, 2021