Our correspondent :
About 500 retired workers of six sugar mills, including the Pabna Sugar Mill, which has been shut down due to continuous losses, have been living inhumane lives for almost seven years without getting gratuity of around Tk. 10 crore. The workers have been frustrated that they have not been able to get any benefit even after protesting to the concerned mill authorities for seven years. In this situation, the frustrated workers have sought the immediate intervention of the Prime Minister. This was stated in the information provided by Saifuddin, MD of Pabna Sugar Mill and retired workers.
According to sources, out of 15 sugar mills of Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation, six sugar mills including Pabna Sugar Mill have been ordered to close from the threshing season of the last 2021 fiscal year. As a result, about 500 workers of six sugar mills, including the Pabna Sugar Mill, are left in a state of uncertainty as to whether they have jobs or not. After that the workers started a movement to start the closed mills. At that time, the authorities of the Sugar and Food Industries Corporation said that the threshing of sugarcane in 8 sugar mills of the Sugar and Food Industries Corporation has been stopped by the decision of the Ministry. The sugar mills were not closed. Eventually, six sugar mills were closed down and the workers and employees of the closed mills were coordinated and transferred to different mobile mills. Retired sugar mill workers are worried even though the transferred workers of the closed mill have returned to their new jobs. Retired workers of closed mills fall into extreme uncertainty.
According to sources, due to the continuous losses of the mills and the widespread irregularities, corruption and incompetence of the concerned authorities, since 2015, the retired workers of six sugar mills, including Pabna Sugar Mills, have failed to pay their gratuity to anyone. As a result, about five hundred workers and employees of six sugar mills, including eighty workers of Pabna Sugar Mills, are owed about ten crore taka.
