It’s better to construct gas chamber & kill us than to survive without salary, says HPC Action Committee

April 16: We appeal to the government to construct ‘gas chamber’ and kill all workers & their dependents of HPC Paper Mills of Panchgram and Nagaon as Hitler did to kill the Jews. It’s better to die at one stroke than to get killed everyday in abject poverty without getting salary for more than 2 years. This were the words uttered by Manabendra Chakraborty, Chief Convenor of HPC Paper Mills Revival Action Committee in a press meet convened by them at Silchar on Monday.

Production at Panchgram Paper Mill, Cachar was suspended on 20 October, 2015. “On the face of last Assembly Elections, we were promised by BJP that the paper mills will be revived and so getting this assurance, we voted for the party. However, instead of reviving it, production in the Nagaon Paper Mill at Jagiroad was closed on 13 March, 2017. The closure of these two mills have affected about two lakh people of Assam who directly or indirectly depended for their livelihood on these mills.This has resulted in the death of 53 of our workers. All of them died of poverty. We are without salary for more than two years,” said Mr. Chakraborty.

He reiterated the point that the Action Committee has launched ‘Main Bhi Berojgar’ campaign against the present political dispensation in the centre and the state. Manabendra Chakraborty said, “We are at the court of Respected Citizens with our appeal to extend Justice by awarding befitting reply to those who betrayed the People of Barak & Brahmaputra valley by dishonouring Commitment of Reviving HPC Paper Mills.” The Action committee held several meetings at various places and distributed leaflets against the injustice meted out to them.

He further said that the ruling party calls itself a Hindu party, but most of the employees who have died so far due to the Modi government’s betrayal are Hindus. Out of the 53 employees who died, only 7 are Muslims. He categorically stated that “We both the Hindu & Muslim employees are now ready to get killed by the government. Only death can relieve us of this crisis.”

Others present in the Press Meet like Dipak Chandra Nath, Baharul Islam Barbhuiya, Ajijur Rehman also highlighted the miserable plight of the paper mill employees and their family members. They said that they became bound to stop their children from attending schools and colleges. They fervently appealed to the ‘ruling elite’ to either revive the mills or kill them all together.

Also Read: HPC employees launch ‘Mein Bhi Berojgar’ campaign as against BJPs ‘Main Bhi Chowkidar’