Overview

• Operations at the Auckland Jute Mill in North 24-Parganas were suspended June 14 after senior official Shankar Debnath was violently attacked outside the premises and hospitalized
• Closed-circuit footage reportedly captured the assault, which followed days of mounting tension between a faction of workers and mill management
• BJP leader Arjun Singh accused Trinamool Congress-linked figures of orchestrating the attack, while local Trinamool representatives blamed external agitators
• Roughly 4,000 mill employees remain without work as the plant stays shut in the context of recurring unrest in West Bengal’s jute sector
• West Bengal continues to lead India in jute production and the Jute Corporation of India has raised the minimum selling price to ₹5,650 per quintal for the 2025-26 crop year