A report of the Save Naihati Industrial Area Forum
February 9, 2009
Translated by Dhiman Chatterjee and Debarshi Das, Sanhati; from Naihati Shilpanchal Bachao Manch booklet.
This report from a civil society forum called Save Naihati Industrial Area provides interesting perspectives to the breakdown of industry in Naihati, West Bengal, and its effects on local cultural and social life.
In Lieu of an Introduction
From Nadia Jute Mill to IPP: most factories of Naihati-Garifa region have been closed. Workers and employees are in an unbearable state and this has affected the local economy, education system, political and cultural environment.
The history of mutual cooperation of the workers which germinated inside the walls of factories during the last few hundred of years, spilled out of the premises as well. This can be verified by a close inspection of Durgapur, Chittaranjan, Asansol and other industrial areas. In a small scale Naihati also provided the canvass of mutual helpful life of workers, which many a time displayed colours of joy and sadness. Today the mills are abandoned. The life in Naihati has also veered towards selfishness: everyone is busy saving his back. Murders, fighting over spoils of crime have become part of daily routine. On the one hand there is back breaking toil to simply survive. On the other, there are real estate mafia, satta gangs, smuggling, trafficking of women and children.
The wheels in these factories have not stopped turning because of some inevitable rule of time. They were made to stop. One of the main reasons for that is, courtesy the machination of political leaders the mills have now gone into ownership of touts and speculators. The owners believe that a closed mill is more profitable than a running one. No bank loans to return, no workers to pay, and one can sell off the machines of the mill as well. The children of the workers are being made to drop out from the and are sent to dawn to dusk work at bicycle repairing shops or tea shops. Many have to pick up dish washing jobs or gleaning threads out of discarded tyres. It’s urgent and legitimate to protest against the system which sustains this tyranny.
Cultural heritage of this area has been a matter of pride for not only to West Bengal but for the Bengalis living elsewhere. Naihati-Garifa is well-known for literature, drama, science, education, music. But today, the once vibrant mutually helpful and diverse cultural programmes organised by the Bengalis and people from other states have become a matter of past. After the industries have closed down there is a vulgar competition to become either a Bengali or a Bihari, a Hindu or a Muslim. Chhatpuja, Durgapuja, Id have become more of a tool to provoke religious or casteist tensions rather than occasions to celebrate humanism. Most of them suffer from a sense of glittering emptiness.
Life of the common man has become miserable in this country for the political leaders and speculators are calling the shots. The running show is sometimes peddled as industrialisation, sometimes development. That a large section of the political leaders are hand in glove with speculative capitalists in their plans to destroy organised industry has become amply clear. Naihati region testifies to the same.
The biggest hurdle in the way to reopen these mills is lack of political will. Both internal and international markets of jute are large and soaring. After it has become mandatory to store food stuff in jute bags, demand for jute has got a boost. It’s a specious argument that its needs have exhausted.
Today we are witnessing deindustrialisation in the name of industrialisation. A transformation is taking place from organised workers to contract, temporary workers. In the automobile industries in the name of ancillary units there is rampant labour exploitation. In most of the places even the minimum attention is not being paid to labour laws. After the factories have shut down many of the workers who used to run machines now drive van rickshaws. Peddling on streets, domestic help: the government is presenting every petty and vulnerable job as employment generation. This is the reality of industrialisation we are witnessing. Are those of us who want to stay away from the crisis of Gauripur-Nadia any more secure?
The need of the hour is to organise and consolidate opinions of the common citizens against this rampant loot. Registering one’s protest for protection of workers’ rights is not only a political responsibility, but a humanitarian one too. Getting confined to affiliations of political parties therefore goes not only against the rich cultural heritage of Naihati, it’s inhuman.
“When keeping mum is a silent sin” many sensitive people are coming forward to raise their voice. From different opinions, professions, persuasions – people are coming together to form a platform, though it’s in its infancy at present. We appeal to you to join us. This small publication is the result of tireless works put in by the people of this platform. In spite of many a request, no government white paper on the state of closed mills has been released. The source for this publication is our own survey and other assorted data. We hope to meet its incompleteness and inadequacies in the coming days through your cooperation and comments.
In the Streets of Naihati Industrial Area
Once upon a time mill sirens would keep the time in Naihati. Sirens at six o’clock, at nine o’clock, at eleven o’clock… Pulse of the factories would impart a collective sense of time, a sense of discipline, a united communal life. Even before the break of dawn tea shops in factory premises and even in far off places, would open shutters. Lines of pedestrians and cyclists would be seen going to work. Night shift workers would come out in hordes to make way for the morning shift. People would mentally get moulded in the rhythm of cooperation which reflected indeed the same rhythm required in the process of production. These attempts to live and move together would get manifested in the small locality based sports clubs, physical exercise clubs, drama troupes, literary magazine groups. There was poverty, but not the all-encompassing insensitivity that one finds today. Political groupism and fights were common. But they had not yet got smeared in the dark and hopeless fights over monetary spoils, local area control, free run for mafias and anti-social elements. There used to be a robust, civil mode of living. There were lockouts and closures for innumerable days then as well. But the Naihatians did not hesitate to share the wretched mill she has with her starving neighbour. Today the story is different.
In the south at the Nadia Mill Workers’ bastee human feelings have not extinguished yet. From there one can take a walk through the Lichubagan, then from the Kanthalpara Ghat passing by the banks of the drying Hooghly river towards the Ferry Ghat, and then enter the Aurobindo Road, going through the buyerless rows of shops – which have been rendered anaemic in the last ten-fifteen years but had been a vibrant market place once – or going beyond the Gauripur Shibalay crossing if one wanders in the north, west, east in Gauripur Bazar, Meerabagan, Khapra, Raypara, Baishnabpara, Charaktala which are centred around the carcass of Gauripur Jute Mill, one witnesses polish, glitter, mascara peeling off. The melancholic and sick image of Naihati smeared in tar, mud takes shape.
Closed Factories – Rampant Loot
Passing through the rusted and broken iron gates we would now enter very heart of the disease whose symptoms we have found in the shut down wretched factories of Naihati industrial area.
Gauripur Jute Mill
There was a time when Naihati was known for Gauripur. This factory was founded in 1885 over an area of 600 acres. RBC Road in the east, the Ganga in the west and Shibalay crossing in the south – in the north it extended all the way to Garifa station, Hooghly Bridge. This area housed Containers Closers (CC company), Gauripur Thermal Station. Even the entire property of Jenson & Nicholson came within the area of Gauripur. At least 22000 workers used to work here. The permanent residential housing for thousands of workers, coolie lines, officers’ quarters, the huge Gauripur market, Meerabagan Maidan: the establishment used to provide livelihood to many thousands of people long before the independence of the country. It used to hum in the Puja, Id festivities and saw the birth of many a great workers’ movement. Today the industrial area has turned into an industrial graveyard, a ghost town. Like many other such mills, there were numerous changes in ownership, there was entry of touts and speculators in jute mill business, there were massive corruptions of union leaders and their sale off to the owners. Eventually on December 12, 1997 it shut down for good. It went to liquidation in 2001.
The drama of repeated ownership change started as early as 1985-86. A dirty game was played by a gang of politicians, anti-social elements and administration to push a running factory to morbidity and to death. The machines, furniture, doors, window frames of an entire unit were taken apart and were sold in front everyone – without a murmur of protest. There were threats in the guise of advice from leaders to the effect ‘keep silent otherwise the mill will be sold off’. After it got closed in 1997, the leaders continued with their broken record for 10-11 years, ‘just be a little patient, it will reopen after this Puja…after this parliamentary vote…after our MLA wins in the state legislature elections,…after the ruling party captures the municipality…’ Darkness has gathered as the years passed by, the factory has filled with wild scrubs. At the time of the closure there were around 5000 workers. According to various sources about 500 of them have died in these 11 years. It’s unfortunate, but most of them met with untimely deaths, in their fifties. Starvation, half-starvation, insult, depression had worn them down. In short, shutting down of the factory and non-payment of their dues seem to have been the chief reason for the deaths. It has been estimated that dues of every worker on account of provident fund and gratuity exceed two lakhs of rupees. It’s anybody’s guess who is lolling in the PF money of the workers who starved to death or are on the same path.
According to Fowly scheme there is a provision to 750 rupees as unemployment dole to be paid to workers and staff of closed factories. Though irregular, some workers of this state get such doles. How many of Gauripur are getting it? Of the total of 5000 workers only 400. Most of the workers are past the retirement age of 58. Government says, ‘The workers get pension and provident fund after they retire; why bother about unemployment dole from a closed factory?’ It’s a cruel joke. There is of course no PF-pension for them, and no demand for doles can be raised courtesy the abovementioned logic!
A Worker’s Tale
(On the basis of an interview taken on 08.11.2008)
I am Mohammad Yusuf. I am about sixty three years old. I live at A T Ghosh Road, Gauripur. In 1962 I joined Gauripur Mill as a labourer. For thirty-six years straight I toiled hard in the Mill. There was a time when I could live comfortably. My family comprising of my wife, four sons and two daughters, would hum along. I could send the children to school. I did not skip rent payment for the house even for a single month. In spare time I used to do some tailoring works. In festival seasons there used to be huge celebrations. It was a time when Gauripur Mill saw much prosperity; which meant there was prosperity of the entire locality. Bad days started around 1985-86. Once Poddar came in, pilferage and looting started. Then one day the factory got locked. The schooling of the children stopped. At present one of them sells old, broken tin. Another son works in a cloth store. I could marry off one of the daughters but could not manage enough money for the marriage of the other one. After the factory closed I had started to sit in a corner in the Gauripur Market with my sewing machine, I did the small darning, sewing jobs that came my way. My eyes had started to grow dim right from the time when the factory was open. I had planned to get medical treatment once I could save enough money from sewing. But a fire broke out in Gauripur Market in 2001, my sewing business was ruined. My eyesight gradually deteriorated and at present I am completely blind. After I lost the factory job, my wife Asma Bibi was forced to start working as a domestic help in Kolkata. At present she is sixty, she won’t be able to continue with her work after two years. I, my wife and my spinster daughter: we glean out threads from tyres. The boys sometimes give us money. Sometimes they don’t. The house rents get delayed by months on end. If we pay the rent we would not be able to eat, if we eat we would not be paying rent. I won’t say our relations with the neighbours have worsened. But they avoid us now. Perhaps they are scared that we might want things from them. Neither do our relatives visit us anymore. I could not buy my wife and daughters any new clothes for last two years. I make do with cast away cheap clothes. I had petitioned to the local area councillor if I could be provided with old age pension from the municipality. He had made some arrangements. But after a few months it suddenly stopped for unknown reasons. For my thirty six years of service I should get ninety thousand rupees of PF and at least one lakh rupees on account of gratuity, after making all sorts of deductions. I would not be facing this misery had I received those dues. I have been with the trade union of Congress Party throughout my life. Mahendar Sau was my leader. After the mill got closed he did not come to visit me even once. I must add that our respected MLA has visited our house once, during the last legislative assembly elections. He told me, “Times are really bad. Cast the vote for us this time.” I had listened and obeyed him. But what did he do for us? What efforts has he made to make the bad days go away?
However I remember in 1998-99 a movement was launched on the demand of paying 500 rupees per month as doles to the workers of the closed factory in the leadership of Meena Paul of BCMF. Our Congressi Union was against this. But I joined Meenadi in her movement. It was a victorious movement fought against all odds. 500 rupees started to get paid. I got it too. But after only nine months I turned fifty eight, hence my doles stopped coming. I still remember that movement and our leader Meenadi.
I strongly believe that three parties are responsible for our plight. One, mill owner Poddar. Two, the established workers’ trade unions. Three, the MLA and his government.
My sons taunt me all the time, where is the money that you earned doing back breaking job in the mill for thirty six years? You did nothing for us, we are destitute now; tell us what happened to the money? Neither do I know the answer. I have come to the Gauripur Majdur Bachao Mancha (Save Gauripur Workers Forum) to seek answers to such questions. I am with them. I would join the procession which would march to the PF office on the 10th November; I shall sit in the hunger strike too.
Jenson & Nicholson
It’s popularly known as the Rang-Kal. This internationally renowned factory used to run very successfully till the end of the seventies. Regular and sumptuous pay package, affordable food in subsidised canteen, well-maintained residential facilities: all these implied that employees of the factory led a substantially better life than others in the locality. Today this dark patch of an area has become a den for gambling, drugs, crimes, marijuana, illicit liquor and other anti-social activities. On the December 18, 2004 the factory got closed after announcing that the period of closure would only be for 3 months. Four years have passed since. Not a single employee or local resident has any inkling as to when would it be reopened or why did it get closed. There had been no labour agitation, gherao, strike or lock out in the factory. The one and only workers’ union is that of the principal ruling left party. Others do not even exist. For obvious reasons the union leaders have been repeating the mantra for last four years: ‘Just wait, it’s about to reopen, it’s a matter of days!’ At the time of closure there were 260 employees. All the other factories of the concern located elsewhere in the country are running. Some of the workers from here have gone to work there. What would happen to those left behind?
There are about one hundred and fifty people constituting thirty families still living in the two colonies (Old Majdur Line and New Majdur Line). Some of them make do with working as daily wage worker for Rs. 75-100 per day in a far off factory. Some of them run petty business, some glean tyres…The ever generous factory owners who have not paid dues to the workers and have kept the factory shut flouting laws of the land did, however, been extremely thoughtful regarding the amenities of workers’ families. They can still avail of the electricity everyday; only from 11 PM to 2 AM at night! In other words, there is no electricity for 21 hours a day. As per water, 25 minutes in the morning, 10 at noon and 25 minutes more in the afternoon: one hour in all. The labourers have no ESI facility. Poverty is taking away many young lives, schooling of children is getting terminated, families are breaking up due to multi-dimensional pressures.
Containers and Closures Limited
It has been about 22 years since the factory adjacent to Gauripur has shut down. It used to employ about 900 people and used to manufacture drums, cans, lids etc. After having closed down in 1983, its ownership changed, the name changed to Containers and Caps Limited and it reopened after two years under the ownership of Mr. Tikmani in 1985. However the workers’ strength was much lower at 300. After a few days it closed down for good. No one knows what happened to all the workers, where did they scatter. They got some of their dues back in small instalments, but large part of the PF has still not been paid.
There are a few top secrets of the CC company which all know but no one is supposed to know. On 27.11.1983 this factory along with other five factories went for denotification. The workers’ union in the other five factories went to the Supreme Court against liquidation within the stipulated time and got a stay order. As a result they have been getting their salaries regularly. For some mysterious and secret reasons none from CC company appealed to the Supreme Court within the appropriate time frame. Gradually the salaries of the staff and workers dwindled to zero. In 1985, an iron merchant called Tikamani was roped in to run the factory. For reasons unknown to economics or law or politics, to grab a factory whose assets were worth 10-11 crores of rupees, Mr. Tikamani had to spend only 62-63 lakh. There were no protests from many quarters. All know who Tikamani’s self-proclaimed agents in those days were who run a whisper campaign how generous he was. After getting hold of the factory, imported machines worth crores of rupees were scrapped off from factory floor and sold off. Every creditor of the mill got his dues back to the last paisa. People who had sold their labour and created each of those paisas got back nothing.
Gauripur Thermal Power Station
Even around 1980 it used to employ about 250-300 staff and workers. It got closed at that time. There were many protests, a citizens’ convention was held protesting against the closure. It used to produce 7 megawatt of electricity, the turbines and generators were in fine condition. The demand for power in the locality, as well as in the other sectors of Naihati-Garifa industrial areas used to be met from here. There was hardly any power cut in this region. Many daily labourers would find jobs in removing flying ash of the thermal plant. The plant houses scrubs, and reptiles today. Whatever happened to the promise to build an improved thermal power plant?
Indian Paper Pulp (IPP or popularly known as Kagaj Kal)
This has been one ideal model on how to destroy a public sector unit and sell it off to the private hands. Through pilferage and corruption the well-functioning paper plant was made sick. The principal manager of the plant who is also a close relative of the then chief minister is known to local people for his role: the workers were paid some paltry sum and made to take voluntary retirement. The workers’ unions kept mum. Gradually the factory got closed. In 2003 when it shut down the number of workers had already dwindled from 1800 to 800. Now it has been sold off to the Balajee Group at an absurdly low price. Few of the workers of IPP (around 250) have been recruited, they are being paid 100 rupees per day and an effort is being made to resume operation in the factory. Thus the end result is, there has been massive downsizing of labour strength, their pay has been drastically slashed and the ownership has been transferred to the private parties.
Nadia Jute Mill
Since 1985-86 this factory has been going through phases of lockouts, work suspension or often getting closed in the name of maintenance or disruption due to some fire breakout. In the process of repeated closing down and reopening, what has happened to this erstwhile busy factory? For the last two years, a promoter, Pavan Shikaria, is running this mill. No one has heard the wail of factory siren in these two years. But this mill is open, production is taking place and good is taken away; in short, the factory is running completely illegally. In 1992, the number of workers was 5093 and daily production was 60 tonnes. Provident fund (PF) due was 8 crores of rupees. Today, in 2008, the total workers’ strength has come down to half (about 2600). Equipment available for production is also reduced to about half but the workers are still made to produce 50 tonnes each day. When the workers are put under tremendous strain to maintain production, what is the situation with the PF? Today PF due has reached 27 crores of rupees. Though the Board of Trustees is in the hands of the ruling party, yet there has been no election to the Trustee Board, there has been no audit of the PF account. The workers do not get any money at all. With the help of the trade union leaders, the owner-management continues with another devilish plan. When the workers attain the retirement age of 58 years, they are told that they will not get any PF, gratuity. If the workers wish, then they may continue with their work instead of retiring. These workers are offered half the wage (daily Rs 120). They are not entitled for any PF and there will also be no other benefit. Of the total 2600 workers, the number of this category of daily wage earners has crossed 1600. It means the skilled, experienced workers with 30-35 years of experience behind them are now made to work as daily labourer at half-the-salary. The owner is reaping the benefits of the exploitation of the workers but since the mill is not open officially so he does not need to pay any tax. If one has the patronage of political bigwigs, it is possible to make an absurd thing happen. With the threat of closing down the mill anytime, the evil combination of the workers and trade union leaders are perpetuating unbound oppression and exploitation something that reminds one of medieval age repression.
25th October 2008 was the scheduled date for fortnightly payment of wages. Since it was just prior to Diwali-Kalipuja or Chhatpuja, the workers arrived in front of the factory gate on that day at 6 AM with great expectations. They were served with work suspension for indefinite period. The workers burst out in anger. The only factory of the locality in working condition was closed just before the Kalipuja. Very recently BIFR has suggested that the due PF and gratuity of the workers need not be paid and the owner should sell the factory land and the state government has accepted the decision. Thus BIFR’s ruling has given the owner to loot the workers’ money. In coming days the attack on the workers will increase. It is also expected that the workers’ movement against this capitalist onslaught will also intensify in days to come.
From near to afar
Let us come out of the closed factories carefully. From the days of bygone era when cooperation-sympathy-collective spirit of the workers were evident, today’s closed factory premises are filled with laughter of the satanic owners and sorrows of the workers. The sensitive mind must have become tired at this. So let us move further away from the walls of these factories. Let us move around in different parts of this industrial region. Let us try to find out how this agony has become a part of our daily lives.
Cultural scenario of Naihati
Because most of the factories of these regions are closed for a long time, cultural decadence has reached deep inside the lives of this industrial region. Once our town was famous for her theatre, sports achievements and for carrying out literary activity. Many great stars of Bengali culture had earlier assembled in this area. And on this eastern bank of Ganges, this vast industrial belt used to bring together hundred and thousands of workers in its factories. After a day’s hard work, workers used to take active parts in sports or drama. But what is happening today? It is still in public memory those personalities who had excelled in the fields of sports or cultural arena. These people used to work in these industries. Then the sources of income gradually dried up as the factories started getting closed. Gradually the cultural or sports activities dwindled. The workers’ quarters of Gauripur, Nadia Mill or IPP, which used to be filled in the evenings with cultural activities of people speaking different languages, gradually fell silent. Those who go by the sides of these quarters even today in the evenings will remember those glorious days.
The closure of the factories not only implies loss of livelihood for the workers working in those factories but also the shops along Aurobindo Road or B.C. Road are suffering from loss of sale. You can experience this in your daily experience. Where have disappeared those drama clubs or the vibrant activities of sports’ clubs? The locality has changed dramatically. Common men are afraid today to voice their opinion because of the mafia activities and the power of the real-estate promoters. Frustration and decadence has engulfed the youth. Exploiting the poverty of the youth and uncertainty about their future, the anti-social elements are thriving in front of everyone’s eyes. The region once famous for glorious working class movements has now become the providers of hired mercenaries of the political leaders. Naihati has now become a hotbed of prostitution and women trafficking. It is said that these activities receive patronage from the established and influential people of the society. Naihati has hit headlines in newspapers because of the drug-addicted young people. Why?
Educational scenario
Shyamu studies in class 9. It is better to say that his name is enrolled in the register of his school. After getting stuck in different classes he has now reached ninth standard. He comes to the class very infrequently but writes examinations regularly. He does not come to the school every day because he has to assist her mother in preparing food items. He then packages these food items and supplies it to different shops. His father, whose factory is closed since long time, is suffering from vision-related problem. He needs to be operated. Because of poverty, that operation is not getting done. Similar condition exists for Bhanu, Gita, Mahendra, Nasima or Anwar. Some of them weigh commodities in grocery shops, does retreading of tyres, work as domestic help, work in tea-shops or sell vegetables in markets. Yes! They exist challenging the false governmental statistics that there is no child labour in the North 24 Paragana district. When they had taken admission in schools, their fathers used to work in Gauripur Jute Mill, IPP or in Jenson & Nicholson. These children can faintly remember the factory siren. They can recollect their mothers and grandmothers preparing lunch for their fathers early in the morning. Events like Rabindra Jayanti celebration in the locality, football match, and rehearsal of drama in the clubs or sweet dishes prepared in the winter have not completely been wiped out of their memories. Sometimes images of celebrating Durga puja come to their mind. Then comes the dark period. Everyone in the house moved around with stern faces. Darkness intensifies in their lives. Watching their father’s sad figure, quarrelling of mother and grandmother, grandmother collecting cow dung to prepare cow dung cakes, mother going for work every morning or father returning broken-hearted from the factory gate in the evenings, these children suddenly mature.
Some of their fathers are ill, some pull vans, some work as daily labourer or someone is a cleaner in trucks. Some of them do nothing because they are not in a position to do anything. Their wives work as domestic help in houses of middle-class families. Some students know that their mothers are working in Mumbai and remit money to home. These women get very little scope to visit their home. During Durga puja, Id or Chhat Puja, you may come across some of these children selling balloons, flower garlands or something else. You may also find some of them dimly smiling at your kid because once in a while they meet each other in the classrooms of the schools.
The number of students is falling in almost all the schools of this region. In some cases, the number has gone down drastically and some schools have closed down because of large number of school dropouts. Some may point out to the English-medium schools. These children do not go to those schools because even though their parents aspire and dream of sending their children to those schools but they cannot afford. They do not come to schools to become learned but to be literate. They start education but do not complete. They learn most of the things in the school of the world. It is found that out of 70 students taking admission in the fifth class in an old and large school of the regions, only two children have parents who work in organised sector Remaining do not have any fixed income though all of them stay in the so-called “Naihati Industrial Area”. As expected, most of the students of the schools of this area have puffed rice as breakfast and have some curry, costing one or two rupees, for lunch. They receive their major meal, comprising of potato and rice, only once a day. On some days they do not get that as well. Darkened faces, dim eyes of these children have signs of malnutrition on their bodies. They cannot buy books. If somehow they manage pen-pencil, then they find it hard to get notebooks. They cannot pay school fees regularly. Poverty is not a thing of glory; they are addicted to tobacco, they fight with their classmates and curse each other with filthy language. They are part of future India!
Nobody cares to know how many primary schools (Bengali-Hindi medium) have closed down in last 20 years. Rich people argue that proper teaching is not there in those schools and hence no one sends their child to these schools resulting in the closure of these schools. But that is not true. Try to find out how many of the good students of these schools have crowded the English medium schools. There is no doubt that there will be few students who would have joined the English-medium schools but they will be miniscule in number. If you move around in the region, you are bound to come across many 8-10 year old children in the cycle repairing shops, in teashops, pulling ice-cream carts or selling balloons. If you watch carefully, you will observe these little salespersons have faded uniforms as their clothes. Ringing of bells still attract these children just as the locked factory gates attract their parents. How far is this area from the well-lit Naihati railway station, well-maintained snacks shops or the stir and din of the Durga Puja. Just look up at least for once.
Attack on the economy
In every locality, different shops have sprung up in several houses. Some sell grocery items, some sell food snacks while some others deal with sports goods, so that they can somehow keep afloat the sinking ship called business. Who will buy and who are these sellers? Both the parties are unemployed workers who have lost their jobs in the factories. So sale on credit becomes the norm. Amount of dues increases and there is hardly any repayment. Some stop taking credits to save the embarrassment while some stop selling items on credit. In both cases the result is the same - business starts to shrink and some of the shops close down. It is heard that there is a plan to open “Shopping Malls” in this town. On the land where Naihati Cinema Hall once stood, Reliance is planning to start its retail medical shop, Swastik group is planning to start retail business in a big way next to the Municipality office, a rumour is going around that at Mahakalitola Reliance and Birla group are competing to start a shopping mall. Big, monopoly capital will gobble up smaller business units which are still managing to survive somehow. What will be the result? What will happen to small and medium-scale shop owners? Today those who are advocating for the shopping malls to get good quality goods at lower price, what will happen to them in future? Who cares to think about these!
Most of the shops along Aurobindo Road-NotunBazar-B.C. Road are suffering from financial crunch. About 25% of the employees working in these shops have been retrenched in last 10 years due to lack of business. In many shops today, the owner is himself the only staff, in others number of staffs are very few. In order to survive, about one-fifth of these shops had to change the type of business several times in the past. About 10% of shops have changed ownership. 2 cinema halls have closed down; at Notunbazar both the old hotels have closed. Most of the businessmen of the area say that it is difficult to recover the cost, let alone making profits. Most of them hold closure of factories responsible for this prevailing economic crisis of Naihati. They demand that for the benefit of the residents of Naihati, these factories should be reopened.
Gauripur bazaar region: it was just 20-25 years ago when this region used to buzz with activities. At 5:30 AM, Muniram used to struggle to provide tea to the workers gathering there; some famous names - Lakshman’s tea or Sadhan’s samosa - all have disappeared today. Every Saturday-Sunday at Mirabagan village fair used to take place and in popularity it was next to the famous Postabazaar of Kolkata. Today, most of the permanent shops have closed forever while some are struggling to survive. Business has reduced by 75%. Honest businessmen are suffering while counterfeit items and duplicate products have got a newfound market. Gauripur had perhaps the highest number of pulse-mills in West Bengal. Today hardly 2-3 mills are working and about 300 persons working in these areas are unemployed. It is true that some new shops have started but the centre of business activity has shifted. It is heard that local political leaders and their clubs extort Rs 30 per month from daily labourers of this region. From the vegetable vendors and other shop owners of the market, hefty sum is taken and receipts are given for these payments. But the market is located in a land belonging to the mill owners. Who gets this money? Every year organisers of religious festivals are increasing in number and their grandeur is also increasing with every passing year in a disproportionate amount. Gauripur bazaar is at present simply carrying the corpse of an old memory. In the meantime, new shops are being built on the factory land and regular transactions are on. But whose item who is selling?
It is told that jute industry is not profit making
In the entire country there are 73 jute mills of which there are 59 in West Bengal. Of these, 5 belonging to the Central Government have closed down. The State Government undertaking Bharat Jute has been handed over to private owners. Apart from these, 4 jute mills are closed now, of which two important ones are Gauripur and Nadia Jute Mills. In all 32 jute mills are presently under BIFR. In the early ‘80s about 4-4.5 lakhs of workers used to produce 8-8.5 lakh metric tonne jute per annum. Today 2-2.5 lakh workers produce 16.5 lakh metric tonne of jute per annum and there exists a big market for jute. About 27-30 lakh jute growers are involved in the process. In short, while the strength of workers has been halved, the production has doubled. Thus each worker, on an average, produces 4 times the amount of jute he used to produce in 80s. This has been achieved simultaneously by mechanisation and exploitation of labourers. Besides these, all the benefits earlier provided to a worker have been taken away. More and more work is getting done by contract and casual labourer. As a result, number of accidents has increased in recent times. About 60% of industrial accidents take place in jute industry.
There is a big domestic and international market for jute. This is evident from the Government data reproduced below:
| Table: Demand for jute | ||||||||
| Year | Domestic (lakh metric ton) | International (lakh metric ton) | ||||||
| 2001-2002 | 14.6 | 1.46 | ||||||
| 2002-2003 | 13.37 | 2.29 | ||||||
| 2003-2004 | 13.21 | 1.99 | ||||||
| 2004-2005 | 13.74 | 2.17 | ||||||
Countries like China, Korea or Nepal have brought about a variety in products in order to capture international markets. But in India, broker/promoter-turned-industrialists are owners of jute mills and as a result they are restricting themselves to produce only A-tweel and B-Tweel jute bags.
Research organisations like J.M.D.C and I.J.I.R.A. had proposed in the 80s about a dozen other products. But there is no planning because of the presence of colonial structure and mindset and the role played by the promoters who have take possession of the jute mills. But it is clear from the above table that both domestic and international demands are not decreasing but steadily increasing.
Factory is closed but not profit making
In the first place, aided by the established trade unions and their well-known leaders, owners do not implement even the bare minimum labour rules. As a result anyone associated with jute mill knows that the targeted annual output is achieved in 7-8 months by exploiting the workers like slaves. Not only that. If by proper calculation the jute mill can be closed for about 4 months at the time of harvest of jute then it can be explained to the jute growers that production has stopped and so there is no point in buying jute. As a result, the jute growers will be forced to sell their jute at a very cheap rate.
Thus, the owners do not suffer at all even if the mills stay closed for 3-4 months. Production target is already reached and once the mill closes there is no need to pay wage to the workers, no need to pay electricity and there will be no other expense. This is not the entire story. Based on Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act (commonly known as SICA) of the Central Government, BIFR was constituted in 1986. 32 jute mills are now under BIFR. It is stated in Article 21 of SICA that if a factory is under BIFR, then even if the owner does not pay the workers their dues, the government will not be able to take any step. As a result, in West Bengal total unpaid PF and gratuity have reached astronomical figures of about 150 crores rupees and over 300 crores rupees respectively. By katouti procedure daily 20-25-30-40 rupees is deducted directly from the wage of the workers to enable the owners to make profit and that is not even accounted for. For example, in Nadia Mills every day Rs 30 is deducted. People like Govinda Sarda, the villain of the in-famous blood test kit scam, are now ruling over the jute market. They are freely buying factories under false names, stealing money from PF/gratuity funds of workers, closing down the factory whenever they feel or exploiting the workers to the maximum extent possible. And all this they are doing with full impunity.
Besides this, some owners are buying factories not to run it, but to sell they are selling trees growing inside the factory premises, furniture, door-window-machines and even the land to fill in their coffer. In the place of factories, housing estates are coming up and in this process of land sale, everybody involved is getting a share of the loot of crores of rupees.
In short, the owner and their lackeys always gain whether the factory is open or closed.
King’s tax must be paid even if we go empty stomach
Whatever civic amenities the people of this town were used to has gradually been taken away in the last 10 years. Many roadside tubewells have stopped working and the daily municipality water supply has been stopped. Sewage system, road condition and other amenities have deteriorated very fast. But side-by-side the tax rate has increased. Property and commercial taxes have all increased and are strangulating common man. In this industrial town many people have taken resort to alternate livelihood and as a result of which they set out early in the morning and return at night. Even 3 years ago the municipality used to supply water twice a day - once at 5 AM and again at 7 PM in the evening. Both these timely supply of water is essential for the workers. But suddenly, without any reason, the Municipality has stopped this water supply. This is just one more example of the contempt and indifference shown by the authorities on the needs of the working class people. It may be mentioned here that according to the 18th May 2007 historic verdict delivered by the Supreme Court, the existing tax structure (and evaluation) being borne by people in the Naihati industrial area is illegitimate, illegal. But no body even tries to estimate the accumulated mountain of municipality tax evaded by the factories operating here. Just take a look at the workers’ quarters in these closed industries. You will notice that heaps of garbage have collected, roofs and ceilings are broken; with no any civic amenities provided for years together, the septic tanks are overflowing with fecal matter. As there are no taps available, people have to use very little water while using the toilet. Even after a light shower, the area gets flooded with water. But the daily urban life still continues untouched by any of these. Alas!
Save workers, save industrial area
One attempt made by the workers and employees of Gauripur Mill against the exploitation and loot carried out by the mill owner, against the treacherous established trade unions, against all attempts to ignore the civil society culminated in the launch of a platform called Save Gauripur Workers Forum. Standing outside the world of party politics, this is essentially a workers’ cooperative effort organised by and under the leadership of the workers and employees of Gauripur Mill and their families. In January 2007, about 20 workers started this initiative. At present, excluding a handful of workers, all the workers are part of this attempt. They have united keeping the following demands in front of them: i) Reopening of Gauripur Jute Mill, ii) Recovery of due PF and gratuity of the workers, and, iii) securing social security and restoring dignity of the workers.
The Trustee board (responsible for maintaining the PF-related accounts) had not submitted any audit of the PF of the workers to the Government’s PF office, let alone payment of the money collected. But these are part of the hard-earned money of the workers and employees. All these are going on in open daylight, because of the nexus between the various political leaders (primarily, ruling left party’s union leaders and leaders higher up in the party structure) and the owners. To overcome this formidable barrier, what was needed was the formation of a platform comprising of all the workers cutting across the political affiliation. Save Gauripur Workers Forum is the result. This platform is being supported by the workers’ front, B.C.M.F. of CPI(M-L) and those common residents of Naihati who believe that one of the preconditions of economic revival of this industrial area is the stopping of the ongoing exploitation of the workers. This is because, through the movement, this belief has to be instilled in the minds of the workers that getting PF-pensions are the basic rights of the workers and it is neither dependent on the mercy of the trade union leaders nor are they alms given by the mill owner. This money has to be recovered and however strong the mill owner might be, he has to yield to the pressure exerted by a unified workers’ organisation. By organising repeated deputations by the workers and their families to Naihati police station, to the local PF office in Titagarh and the Central PF office I Salt Lake, through organised processions or by staging protest (dharna), the movement has gained momentum and hundreds and thousands of workers have joined the protest. A strong working class movement, which was perceived to be dead and decaying not only by the residents of Naihati but also by the workers themselves, has cast aside all these false beliefs. With every passing day, the movement is gaining strength and experience. Recently, through continuous protest, dharna and hunger strike in front of the PF office in Titagarh, Save Gauripur Workers Forum has received a promise of payment of PF. But it’s still a long way to go. It’s still to achieve other demands and to launch an organised struggle with the workers of permanently closed and frequently closed factories. Can the sensitive civil society of Naihati turn its face away from this movement?
February 25th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
Sad ,Sad,Sad.No wonder I left in 1977.I worked at India Paper Mills.The paper machines are very capable of producing 150-200 tonnes /day.Politics had already destroyed this wonderful mill.
March 26th, 2009 at 2:11 am
Jenson nicholson was a sunrise industry.Therewas no reason of its closure but for greed of the employer.The employer mismanaged the organisation with sole motive of making quick gain.It was excellently managed till Mr.S.Subberwal was the Managing Director.There was a all cooperative work force,never went on strike and the IR relations was harbinger to rest of Bengal.Let the good sense and human face prevail upon the employer and the workforce are saved.
April 24th, 2009 at 6:22 am
hmm.. amazing ))
April 24th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
I came across your blog on the google search engine and saw a few of your earlier posts that you did previously . I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the great work. i will Look forward to reading more from you again.
April 24th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
I came across your blog on the google search engine and saw a few of your earlier posts that you did previously . I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the great work. i will Look forward to reading more from you again.