Guwahati, April 20 : Yet another ailing employee of Cachar Paper Mill passed away after being unable to afford medical expenses, taking the death toll of workers of the two “closed” Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited (HPCL)-owned paper mills in Assam to 103.
Rajendra Kumar Daloi (58), a resident of Cuttack, Odisha, was suffering from kidney-related diseases. He died on Monday night.
“Daloi, like many other workers, could not afford medical treatment owing to non-payment of salary for the past five years and subsequent financial crisis,” Manobendra Chakraborty, president of the Joint Action Committee of Recognised Unions (JACRU) of the Nagaon and Cachar paper mills, informed on Wednesday .
The Cachar Paper Mill at Panchgram in Hailakandi district and Nagaon Paper Mill at Jagiroad in Morigaon have been non-functional since October 2015 and March 2017 respectively.
“Every living worker of the two mills are passing days with unbearable suffering, stress, trauma and have now lost all hope to live life with dignity as the government has not paid their salaries since the past 63 months,” Chakraborty said.
“On the other hand, the Assam government, despite agreeing to release the relief package to bail out the workers, is yet to do so,” he said.
It may be noted that the Assam government had on March 28, 2022, taken over the assets of Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited (HPCL) paper mills at Jagiroad and Panchgram.
Earlier, a general relief package of Rs 700 crore, which includes settlement of various outstanding dues of employees and workers of HPCL’s assets at Nagaon and Cachar paper mills, was offered by the government.
The relief package was accorded approval in the Cabinet meeting held on September 30, 2021.
The nodal agency for this matter, AIDC had participated in the e-auction process of all the assets, plant, technical area, township area of Nagaon and Cachar paper mills pursuant to public announcement on February 26, 2022 at a reserve price of Rs 375 crore.
The state government has paid the amount of Rs 375 crore and will be distributed by the liquidator in accordance with the norms of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) 2016.
The remaining amount of Rs 700 crore will be utilised in clearing the dues of employees and workers of HPCL.