Another staff of closed Cachar Paper Mill dies

Silchar: Another employee of the closed Cachar Paper Mill, a unit of state-owned Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited died on Saturday, allegedly because of lack of medical facilities, taking the death toll of employees of both Cachar and Nagaon Paper Mill to 67.
The two paper mills (Cachar and Nagaon) have been closed for the past five and three years, respectively.
Chief convenor of the Paper Mills Revival Action Committee, Manabendra Chakraborty, said Liakat Ali (57), an employee of human resource and employees’ department of Cachar Paper Mill, died at Silchar Medical College and Hospital.
”Employees of the said paper mill are without salary for the past 42 months. Ali, who was staying at HPC quarters, was suffering from diabetes, hypertension and other ailments. However, he was unable to visit a doctor because of extreme financial hardship. ‘
‘Ultimately, he was admitted to SMCH, where he succumbed to multiple ailments,” said the union functionary.
The mill, only heavy industry in Barak Valley has been lying non-functional since October, 2015 and its workers have not received their salaries for the past 42 months.
Like the Cachar Paper Mill, another paper mill in Assam — Nagaon Paper Mill at Jagiroad in Morigaon district — has been in a non-functional state since March, 2017 and its workers have not got their salaries for the past 40 months. (UNI)