The left-leaning political parties demanded reopening the state-owned jute mills of the country and clearing all the arrears of the workers without delay.
Left Democratic Alliance (LDA), a platform of the left-leaning parties, made the demand after holding a rally on Chittagong Deputy Commissioner’s office premises on Sunday.
While addressing the rally, the speakers alleged that the government took the decision of shutting down the state-owned jute mills unilaterally and arbitrarily.
The state-owned jute mills of the country could easily be turned into profit-making concerns through modernization at a cost of Tk 1200 crore. However, the decision to shut down the jute mills was taken at a cost of 6,000 crore to serve the interest of local and foreign capitalists, the speakers said.
The decision to shut down the state-owned jute mills was taken at a time when the jute market is expanding locally and internally, and the demand for jute and diversified jute products is growing substantially across the world, they said.
50,000 jute mill workers will be hit hard with the closure of the jute mills. Besides, 40 lakh jute growers and 40 million people will be affected directly and indirectly due to the closure. Therefore, the government should backtrack on the decision of shutting down the state-owned jute mills and clear the arrears of the workers without delay, the speakers said.
With the Chittagong chapter coordinator of LDA Shafiuddin Kabir Abid in the chair, the rally was addressed by Chittagong district secretary of Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) Ashok Saha, Chittagong chapter coordinator of Gonosanghati Andolon Hasan Maruf Rumi, Socialist Party of Bangladesh (SPB) leader Mohin Uddin and CPB leader Amrita Barua, among others.
