The Indian Jute Mills Association chairman Sanjay Kajaria said the indefinite strike is going to be the ninth continuous strike in the industry in West Bengal within a span of 30 years and would be ruinous for the industry, its labourers and farmers growing jute.

The strikes in 1969, 1970, 1974, 1975, 1979, 1984, 1992 and 1995 of uneven durations hardly did any good to any of them though the jute mills had to increase the total wages of the workers without any increase in productivity under compulsion and thus the entire industry had become virtually sick, he said. On the contrary it has only helped synthetic bag industry to make deep incision in the market and to substitute jute in the field of packaging to avery great extent, Kajaria pointed out. He said the strike was totally uncalled for as the workers were getting wages which was one of the highest in the region and the mills have no capacity to grant further hikes.