Guwahati: The employees of closed Cachar and Nagaon paper mills under central PSU Hindustan Paper Corporations have not received their salaries for two years and 29 of them have died in this period, the Assam Assembly was informed Thursday.
Commerce and Industry Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary said production at the Cachar unit in Panchgram was stopped on October 20, 2015, while the Nagaon mill in Jagiroad has not been functioning since March 31, 2017. In a written reply to a query by Congress member Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha, Patowary said no salary was paid to the staff of Cachar and Nagaon units since January and March of 2017 respectively.
“According to the Hindustan Paper Corporation, 16 employees of Nagaon paper mill have died from March 1, 2017 to February 12, 2019. In Cachar paper mill, 13 employees have died between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2018,” the minister said. They died “unfortunately” for various reasons, he said adding that one had committed suicide out of depression while another was found dead in room. About steps taken to ease the financial difficulties faced by the children of the employees in continuing their education, Patowary said the government “cannot say more” at this moment. He said a Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process is going on as per directions of the National Company Law Tribunal. (PTI)
