Govt of Assam took over the assets of Nagaon and Cachar Paper Mills

March 28: The Government of Assam today took over the assets of Nagaon Paper Mill and Cachar Paper Mill. Due to the bold initiative of Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, the long pending sufferings of the employees of the mills will get resolved. This was stated in a tweet by Chandra Mohan Patowary, Minister of  Industry & Commerce on Monday.

Taking to his twitter handle, Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma wrote, “Happy to share that after long & sustained efforts our Govt has finally taken over assets of HPC Nagaon & Cachar paper mills by paying ₹375 cr through a transparent bidding process. This will pave the way for the long-awaited relief to the mill workers.” The reserve price for the bids was initially kept at Rs 1,139 crore, but it attracted no bidder. The price was lowered several times and the Assam government finally acquired the mills at Rs 375 crore.

The Govt of Assam today took over the assets of Nagaon Paper Mills and Cachar Paper Mill. Due to the bold initiative of HCM Dr. @himantabiswa, this will resolve long pending sufferings of the employees of the mills.@CMOfficeAssam @Pijush_hazarika pic.twitter.com/Pa8Ah0RKBI

— Chandra Mohan Patowary (@cmpatowary) March 28, 2022

The Assam Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) was the successful bidder and it took over the assets of the two paper mills on behalf of the state government. Adil Khan, MD, AIDC and Moloy Ranjan Thakur, authorized person of official liquidator Kuldeep Verma signed an understanding in presence of Industries Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary.

The mill at Nagaon is spread over 1765 bigha, 33 katha and 24 lessa of land while the one at Cachar occupies 2916 bigha, 1 katha and 7 lessa land, totaling to 4681 bigha, 34 katha and 17 lessa. HPC”s Cachar unit in Panchgram stopped functioning on October 20, 2015, while the Nagaon mill in Jagiroad stopped operations on March 31, 2017. No salary was paid to the staff of Cachar and Nagaon units since January and March of 2017, respectively.

On September 30 last year, the Assam Cabinet had approved a Rs 700-crore relief package for the two paper mills. The Assam government has paid the amount of Rs, 375 crores and will be distributed by the liquidator as per the norms of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) 2016. The remaining amount of Rs. 700 crores will be utilized in clearing the dues of employees and workers of HPC.