GUWAHATI, June 3: The Joint Action Committee of Recognised Unions (JACRU) of Nagaon and Cachar paper mills in Assam has sought immediate intervention of Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to save the Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited (HPCL)-owned two mills from sale through e-auction.
This comes in the wake of the official liquidator issuing an e-auction notice on Tuesday for sale of the mills as a going concern with a reserve price of Rs 1139 crore.
In a memorandum to the chief minister, the committee stated that the reserve price was underestimated and that the liquidator should have pursued to receive consent of both state and central governments prior to announcement of the auction motice.
It stated that no sale should be made prior to exercising any efforts to ensure that the industries, which are wholly owned by central government, remained a going concern with active participation of the central and state governments.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) vide order, dated May 29, 2019 ordered for infusion of funds by the central government to ensure that the company remains a going concern while the Assam government, vide their petition dated September 10, 2020, expressed interest to take over the industries.
“It is pertinent to mention here that a comprehensive revival plan has been formulated by the Prime Minister’s Office and pending for approval, which has to be explored prior to sale of assets to any third party, because the Kerala government already took over Hindustan News Print Ltd, a subsidiary unit of HPC and the Assam government is also duty bound to protect industries to honour their commitments towards citizens of Assam,” the memorandum issued by JACRU president Manobendra Chakraborty and Ananda Bordoloi, JACRU general secretary, said.
The committee also stated that Union home minister Amit Shah had while addressing a poll rally at Sorbhog on April 4, 2021, reaffirmed the government’s commitment that both the Nagaon and Cachar Paper Mills would be revived to make India “Atma-nirbhar” (self-reliant) utilising the bamboo/forest resources in Assam. The BJP had also made a declaration to revive the mills through its “Sankalpa Patra” issued before the Assembly elections in the state.
The Cachar Paper Mill at Panchgram in Hailakandi district and Nagaon Paper Mill at Jagiroad in Morigaon are units of Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited (HPCL) and have been non-functional since October 2015 and March 2017 respectively.
JACRU also informed that till date, 87 workers of the both the mills have died, four of them by suicide.
“Our submission (before the government) is to save HPC from sale and that the government should take over the industries. We also urge that all the legal dues of workers, including VRS as applied as per settled provisions of DPE (Department of Public Enterprises) be released and that employments of workers, as per NCLAT order be ensured,” the memorandum said.