A CORRESPONDENT
NAGAON: The jute mill at Silghat in Nagaon district, operating under the cooperative sector, has come to a halt once again as production ceased on February 1 due to a shortage of raw materials, specifically jute.
Sources reveal that the mill's second unit was previously shut down due to non-payment of dues to jute suppliers. The unit's management had been handed over to a Kolkata-based firm, which allegedly failed to clear the pending payments, leading to conflicts and even an attempted suicide. Despite temporary relief efforts by the Kaliabor co-district administration and mill authorities, the situation has deteriorated once more. Experts attribute the mill's recurring problems to mismanagement and alleged corruption by certain officials.
The mill, which turned profitable after reopening in 1986 under the Assam Accord, had been operating smoothly until the COVID-19 pandemic. It had recorded profits even in 2021 and continued to do so for the following couple of fiscal years. Recent efforts to revive the second unit, employing female laborers, had shown promise, but the current shutdown now puts thousands of workers' jobs at risk. The crisis is being linked either to non-payment of dues to suppliers or to alleged ulterior motives by some stakeholders.
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