Amid auction notice, Sushmita Dev seek CM’s intervention to rescue the 2 paper mills

June 2: President of All India Mahila Congress Sushmita Dev, in a letter addressed to Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma asked him to rescue the two paper mills and their employees from going into private hands. This comes in the wake of the official liquidator issuing an e-auction notice on Tuesday for sale of the mills. The liquidator Kuldeep Verma has notified that an auction will be held on June 30, 2021 from 10 am to 6 pm. The EMD amount has been set at Rupees 55 crores even though the reserve price has been set at Rupees 1,139 crore and the minimum incremental bid at Rs 1 crore. The auction is supposed to be held online on www.mtsecommerce.com.

The subject matter of the letter by the Congress leader is “Acquisition or revival of the Cachar and Nagaon Paper Mill owned by Hindustan Paper Corporation by the State Government rather than auction to a private party.” Ms Sushmita Dev in her letter to the state Chief Minister stressed upon the aspect that the official liquidator has issued an e-auction sale notice for the sale of the two paper mills of Assam inspite of the fact that the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in its order has asked to keep the two paper mills (at Nagaon & Panchgram) as a going concern.

The Congress leader also brought forth the miserable plight of the employees of the now defunct paper mills in Nagaon & Panchgram of Assam. She stated, “The employees have suffered loss of their only source of income and even death since the two mills stopped production without even a closure notice under the Industrials Disputes Act. These industries have given good dividends in the past and were viable as an industry. With an efficient management in place, I have every reason to believe that these two mills can thrive and provide employment to the youth of Assam.”

Referring to the promise made by reviving the paper mills by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the assurance of doing so by the BJP in its election manifesto during the recently concluded Assam Assembly Election 2021, Sushmita Dev wrote, “The Cachar paper Mill in Pachgram is the only public sector industry in Barak valley and needless to say the Hon’ble Prime Minister himself has repeatedly assured that these industries will be revived in the greater interest of Assam. In the recently held assembly election, the Home Minister of India also renewed his assurance to save the two mills. More pertinently, the manifesto the BJP also gave a commitment for the re-opening of the Nagaon paper Mill although, to our dismay, there was no mention of the Cachar Paper Mill.”

The Mahila Congress chief urged upon the Chief Minister to act in a similar manner as he did while raising the  stake of the state government in the Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL). “I hope the Assam government will show the same spirit and rescue the two paper mills and their employees from going into private hands at a meagre cost of Rs. 1100 odd crores.”

Finally, citing a similar instance from Kerala, Ms Dev wrote, “You may be aware that the Kerala State government took over the unit of Hindustan Newsprint Limited at Kottayam at the price that excluded the cost of land, which was originally given by the state government for the unit. I hope that you will consider the above.”

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 53 months. Being deprived of salary & other emoluments for such a long period, the employees of the two HPC Paper Mills are embracing death one after another. As of now, the death toll at HPC Paper Mills has now reached 86 including 4 suicides.

Also Read: পাঁচগ্রাম ও নগাঁও কাগজকলের নিলামের প্রক্রিয়া, আবেদন আহ্বান….Liquidator issues auction notice of 2 paper mills at Nagaon & Panchgram