NGT ban on coal hits Cachar paper mill hard

SHILLONG: The ban on coal mining in Meghalaya has affected the functioning of Cachar Paper Mill (CPM), a unit of Hindustan Paper Corporation (HPC).
The Union Minister of State for  Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises  Babul Supriyo in reply to a written question in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday said that the Cachar  paper  mill is facing financial crisis on account of non-availability of coal owing to blanket ban imposed by NGT on mining and transportation of coal in Meghalaya.
According to the Minister, 100% requirement of the paper mill used to come from Meghalaya and coal cannot be sourced from other sources as there is no broad gauge linkage inside the mill premises.
“This paper mill has been shutting down every now and then for last few years due to shortage of raw material thereby incurring huge losses”, the Minister said.
According to the statement, the Centre after realizing the problems faced by the paper  mill has taken a slew of measures which includes grant for meeting its operational costs on account of transportation exclusively to mitigate the logistic disadvantages of the mill. “Department of Heavy Industry has also provided working capital support for the mill. Moreover, Government has provided assistance for conversion of Meter Gauge (MG) to Broad Gauge (BG) from Panchgram Station to inside Cachar paper mill premises”, the statement added.