About 200 others gathered in front of the mill's main entrance as a closure notice was hung on the factory notice board at 10:27pm. They cried, screamed, sobbed and blamed the people who did 'injustice' to them. Several elderly people were seen standing in silence with a bewildered look.

The crowd got excited as two vehicles carrying the joint forces left past the mill.

Rapid Action Battalion had already taken position near the closed factory.

At one stage, the crowd became vocal and chanted slogans demanding payment of their dues including salary and other benefits.

The closure notice did no say anything about if or when the labourers would get their outstanding dues.

As a friend of Hakim tried to console him, both of them broke down in tears holding each other.

Hakim, who hails from Nalchhiti in Barisal, is entitled to get Tk 25,000 as pending salary and Tk 90,000 as provident fund.

"I have nowhere to go as there is nothing left in my village home. Even I do not have the money for the bus fare to go back home," said a sobbing Hakim.

Most of the labourers of the mill have similar tales to tell.

Abdul Hakim, who joined the mill as a daily-basis labourer in 1985, got his job regularised after long 17 years. Then he got married and started living a new life with the 'satisfactory salary' he drew as a permanent worker.

But the happy days did not last long and at one stage his salary became irregular.

One month back Hakim had to leave the mill quarters following notice from the authorities.

As the clock struck 12:00 on Tuesday night, the security guard blew the last whistle for the mill. A sudden silence descended upon the retrenched crowd who started moving backward.

Our staff correspondent adds from Khulna: Brac, a non-government organisation, yesterday donated Tk 48,000 to forty students of Khulna People's Jute Mills High School.

Each student got Tk 1200 to meet educational expenses for six months.

Brac also gave Tk 24,000 for twenty students of the same school in June this year.

Khulna Brac office counsellor M Saidul Islam said they donated the money under the social protection project for the retrenched workers and the donation will continue in phases.

The guardians of the students have expressed the fear of eviction from the mill colonies following closure of the factory, said the headmaster of the school.

"We are deeply concerned about the academic future of our students as the high school run by the BJMC may also close," he said, adding, "Brac has come forward to help the students financially. But we still don't know who will bear other expenses of the school."