Yet another employee dies at Cachar Paper Mill, toll reaches 125

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaAugust 3, 2024

Yet another employee of Cachar Paper Mill, which is now under Assam Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC), died. This brings the total death toll of employees in the two paper mills—Nagaon Paper Mill and Cachar Paper Mill—to 125.

“Our beloved colleague of Cachar Paper Mill, Kameswar Patnaik, a resident of Bandari Layout, Nizampet, Telangana, lost the battle of life due to a cardiac arrest followed by prostate cancer, for which he has been suffering since last few years,” said Manobendra Chakravorty, president of the Joint Action Committee of Recognised Unions (JACRU) of Nagaon and Cachar Paper Mill, Assam.

“Patnaik departed for his heavenly abode on July 31 at around 9.49 am at a private hospital. He was 63,” Chakravorty said.

“Every worker in the two paper mills is enduring unbearable suffering, stress, trauma, and has lost all hope of living life with human dignity while the government has not paid any attention to releasing their salaries for the past 90 months,” Chakravorty said.

“Though the Assam government declared humanitarian aid to the employees in June 2022, no other initiative has been taken for their survival,” he also said.

The Nagaon Paper Mill at Jagiroad and Cachar Paper Mill at Panchgram have been non-operational since October 2017 and March 2015 respectively, and are under liquidation proceedings due to the non-clearance of dues to financial and operational creditors. The total land area of both mills is over 1,550 acres.

On March 28, 2022, the Assam government took over the assets of the two closed paper mills of Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited (HPCL) located at Jagiroad in Morigaon district and Panchgram in Hailakandi district after long and sustained efforts, dialogues, and meetings.

On November 16, 2022, the state government issued an expression of interest and notice inviting bidders for a 30-year lease of the machinery and land of Cachar Paper Mill in Panchgram, along with the township.

The notice issued by Assam Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) also invited bidders for the sale of the plant and machinery of Nagaon Paper Mill at Jagiroad without the land on an “as is where is” basis. The bidding process started online from November 16, 2022, to January 9, 2023, and was later extended to January 25. However, there has been no response from the bidders to take over the Cachar Paper Mill.

“Presently, Tata Group is constructing a Rs 27,000 crore semiconductor facility on 300 acres of land of Jagiroad Paper Mill. But we do not know the status of investment from the state government side,” Chakravorty also said.

“During the election campaign, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced in Silchar that a similar industry would be set up at the Cachar Paper Mill site. But no follow-up action has been seen here,” he further stated.

“The state government has not also built up Rs 20 crore corpus fund for the welfare of the employees even after two years,” he added.