Jute worker ends life

CHANDANNAGORE: The slump in the jute industry led a casual worker of Gondalpara Jute Mill at Hooghly’s Chandannagore to take his life on Friday night.
Dipak Das’s body was found hanging from the ceiling of his quarters adjoining the mill. Though his mill was open, Dipak (23) had not been finding work for many days, his family said. Finding Dipak’s room locked from inside on Friday night, his family members knocked on the door several times.As Dipak didn’t respond, they informed Chandannagore police. The cops came and broke open the door only to find Dipak hanging and recovered his body.
“He was not being accommodated in any of the shifts at the mill since days. Off late, he kept to himself and hardly spoke at home. But, I never thought I would lose him,” said Mohan Das, Dipak’s father.
Kishore Sinha, IC of Chandannagore police station, said the victim was mentally depressed for not getting work. We are investigating further.
There are some 4,000 workers at Gondalpara Jute Mill. Like the 10 other jute mills in Hooghly district and mills elsewhere in Bengal, most of the workers in this mill are casual labourers who earn hourly wages. With a slump in the demand for jute goods, mills in Hooghly have reduced the timings for each shift from eight hours to five hours. This reduction in shift hours has reduced daily earnings of jute mill workers. Moreover, several casual workers like Dipak are not finding work at all, admitted Tapan Dasgupta, parliamentary secretary in charge of labour.