West Bengal jute mill workers kill CEO over shift timings

Agitating workers of a jute mill in Hooghly district killed the chief executive officer (CEO) on Sunday morning. The incident took place hours before the workers and management officials were scheduled to sit for a meeting to discuss reduction of working hours. HK Maheshwari, the 68-year-old CEO of North Brook Jute Mill, died on his way to Uttarpara State General Hospital.

The injured managers KM Jha and G Debnath. (Sougata Roy/HT Photo)

Two other officers, general manager (Works) KM Jha and security in-charge Jadu Gopal Debnath, too, suffered injuries on their heads. They were taken to a local hospital and released after treatment. Four people have been arrested.

A furious chief minister Mamata Banerjee responded promptly and asked the administration to take strong action. “I’m deeply saddened by the incident. There was a meeting today. I’ve inquired that BMS and CITU men were at the workers’ gathering. Maheshwari went to speak to them when he was brutally thrashed. He died from his injuries on the way to hospital,” Mamata said.

The police said Maheshwari and other officers were scheduled to meet the representatives of nine trade unions active at the jute mill, at Champdani, in Hooghly district, at 4pm on Sunday.

The management, citing a lack of orders as reason, wanted to reduce working hours. Over the past few months, the mill has been operational for only one shift, which means eight hours a day. On Sunday, the management was to propose either to run the plant three days a week or five hours a day. The workers, however, wanted the mill to function for at least five days a week.

“Maheshwari had an informal discussion with the union leaders early in the morning. Then he went to speak to the workers who had gathered in large numbers outside the mill. During the conversation, a section of the workers attacked Maheshwari, Jha and Debnath with iron rods and bricks,” Tapan Dasgupta, a ruling party MLA and parliamentarian secretary of the labour department of the state government, told HT. The attack took place at about 11am and Maheshwari, who was being rushed to hospital, died on the way at 12.30pm. His wife, Sunita Maheshwari, soon reached the hospital. The body will be handed over to his family on Monday, when Maheshwari’s son reaches Kolkata from Chicago. “Workers belonging to the CITU and BMS unions were behind this attack. We’re on the lookout for the culprits,” district superintendent of police Sunil Chowdhury said.

This incident is reminiscent of the incident at Baranagar Jute Mill in the North 24-Parganas, in which two officials were thrashed and burned alive in January 2001.
On that occasion, the workers of Baranagar Jute Mill had been protesting against the suspension of two workers in front of the office of the CEO, Jagadamba Tiwary, and, in the process, started vandalizing Tiwari’s office. Tiwari opened fire from his revolver and killed a worker, Bhola Das. Following this, the workers dragged Tiwari and the general manager (Personal), Goutam Ghosh, out of the office, thrashed them and burned them alive. “Our government won’t allow such anarchy,” Mamata Banerjee said on Sunday, promising strong action.

Trinamool leaders alleged that this attack thwarted the possibility of resolving the problem through talks. “This mill had closed down last April and reopened in May following successful talks. This time, too, the problem could have been solved through talks,” Dasgupta said.

Condemning the act, Sanjay Kajaria, former chairman of the Indian Jute Mills’ Association, said, “The IJMA denounces and condemns such a heinous act. Jute needs a political solution. Both the West Bengalgovernment and the Centre need to set their differences aside and sit for discussions to find a solution to prevent such incidents. There should be an end to the tension between the workers and management of all jute mills.”