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Paper Mill employees & family members stages dharna, refuses to vacate quartersধর্নায় কাগজকল কর্মচারী ও তাদের পরিবার, কোয়ার্টার খালি করার নোটিশ প্রত্যাখ্যান
December 26: A circular has been issued on behalf of the liquidators of Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited (HPCL) asking “residents of respective quarters of HPC Ltd (including HPC Salt lake housing complex) of all locations to vacate their quarters by 31.01.2020”. This means that hundreds of employees along with their starving children and ailing family members will be on the roads.
It is in this backdrop that the employees of Cachar Paper Mill along with their family members held a protest demonstration at Panchgram on receiving the order of the Liquidator regarding vacating of quarters by 31 January, 2020. All employees, their children, parents assembled in the cold night to protest against this ‘inhumane order.’
Speaking to newsmen, the employees and their family members categorically stated that they are going to defy this order. A woman whose husband is a employee in the mill broke down while speaking. Her daughter was studying in a college, but financial crunch compelled them to stop her studies. The lady said, “The government promised us to disburse the pending salaries, but since then 3 years have elapsed and nothing happened. Now we have got the notice to vacate the quarters. But we will not leave the quarters. Where shall we go? Give us our pending dues and then we promise to leave the quarters within an hour.”
Echoing her voice another family member of the mill employee said, “We are already dead, what more harm can the government cause to us. If the government does not give us the pending salaries, then we will not move an inch from here. Let the government come and kill us. Please tell us is it a crime to demand our pending salary? Is it a crime to ask to let us live?”
Daughters of mill employees with tears in their eyes and sorrow in their hearts said, “This order of vacating the roof over our head was the last nail in our coffin. This government has snatched away everything from us. Even we became bound to leave our studies. Give our parents their pending dues and then we will vacate the quarters or else we all will give our lives over here.” The young girls asked, “Is this the real face of the slogan -Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao”?
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had in November 2019 ordered the liquidation of the Nagaon and Cachar paper mills after the central government refused to release Rs 98 lakh that Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited (HPCL) owed to a company named Allow & Metals as payment for raw materials the latter supplied to the two paper mills.
Cachar Paper Mill and Nagaon Paper Mill run by Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited (HPCL) have been non-functional since 20 October 2015 and 13 March 2017 respectively. The employees of the two mills have not received salaries for the past 35 and 33 months.
