Jute mill CEO murder: Unions demand release of workers

Kolkata, June 19 (IANS) Twenty labour unions Thursday demanded the "unconditional release" of all workers detained in the aftermath of the lynching of a jute mill CEO in West Bengal's Hooghly district and called for withdrawal of all false cases besides halt to "police atrocities".

In a joint statement, the unions also raised their voice for resolving the charter of demands of the jute mill workers pending for the last one and a half years and asked the government to take the initiative for making use of jute bags mandatory for food crops and sugar.

Describing as "sad" the lynching of the North Brook Jute Mill CEO H.K. Maheswari Sunday at Bhadreshwar, the unions, however, condemned the "politically motivated" statement given by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee "even before a proper probe" into the incident.

"The state government has started unilateral police atrocities on workers without looking into the source of the trouble - the deprivation of the labour force and non-payment of wages," the unions said.

"Earlier the government said the workers could not resort to strikes. Now they are saying they won't allow militant agitations. It is virtually an endorsement of the attacks on workers' livelihood," they said.

In a statement on the floor of the assembly, Banerjee indicted the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India-Marxist affiliated trade union members for the killing.

The protesting unions included Bengal Chatkal Mazdoor Union, National Union of Jute Workers, Federation of Chatkal Mazdoor Union and Bengal provincial Chatkal Mzdoor Union.