The Citu has filed police complaints against 53 jute mills in Bengal for allegedly violating a government order to pay wages to labourers during the lockdown.

The complaints have been lodged simultaneously at police stations in North 24-Parganas, Hooghly, Calcutta and Howrah districts where the jute mills are located.

The complaints were addressed to the district magistrates and the superintendents of police concerned. The CPM-affiliated union sought immediate payment of wages to over one lakh workers.

On Friday, Citu workers demonstrated outside all the 53 jute mills, 25 of which are located in the Barrackpore-Bhatpara industrial belt. “We have requested mill authorities to pay the wages by Saturday afternoon. In case they ignore it, the workers will sit on a hunger strike from Sunday,” a Citu leader said.

The Union ministry of labour and employment had on March 20 advised state chief secretaries to request employers of private and public establishments to avoid layoffs and to pay wages to workers, including contractual and casual labourers. Pursuing the advice, the Bengal government on March 29 issued an order asking the employers to pay wages without deduction, including for the period of lockdown.

The director-general of the Indian Jute Mill Association, Debasish Roy, claimed many units had already paid the wages. “Many mills, however, couldn’t pay as Rs 240 crore is pending with the jute commissioner’s office, which is not functioning in the lockdown. We have no intention to block the payment though most mills have been struggling with poor working capital.”