Guwahati, May 5: The Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Recognised Unions (JACRU) of the Nagaon and Cachar paper mills has sought clarity from the Assam government in regard to the disbursement of the Cabinet-approved relief amount of Rs 308.75 crore for the mill employees as well as the pending dues as agreed upon during a bipartite meeting in September last year.
JACRU president Manobendra Chakraborty, while welcoming the Cabinet’s decision to approve a part of the relief package said, “We want a clarification from the Assam government as to when and under which overhead (salary, Provident Fund (PF), gratuity, pension) it would disburse the approved amount (Rs 308.75 crore) as well as the pending amount (of Rs 261.25 crore) out of the Rs 570 crore as agreed upon last year.”
The Assam Cabinet had on Tuesday approved the release of Rs 308.75 crore as part of the Rs 700 crore relief package to the staff of Nagaon Paper Mill and Cachar Paper Mill of Hindustan Paper Corporation Ltd (HPCL).
It may be recalled that the state government and the workers’ unions had reached an agreement on September 28, 2021 to resolve the pending issues of salary payment and other dues of the mill employees.
According to the agreement, a relief package of Rs 570 crore was to be disbursed within two months on approval by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) of the proposal submitted by the Assam government.
“As of now, we have not received any clarity from the part of the state government. Nevertheless, the Cabinet’s recent decision has brought optimism that the salaries of employees/workers of the two mills which have been pending for the past 63 months, along with other dues, such as gratuity, pension and PF would soon be cleared,” Chakraborty said on Thursday.
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 state government last year. The package was subsequently accorded approval in a Cabinet meeting held in September 2021.
It may be noted that the Assam government had on March 28, 2022, taken over the assets of the paper mills at Jagiroad and Panchgram.
The Cachar Paper Mill in Hailakandi district and Nagaon Paper Mill in Morigaon district have been non-functional since October 2015 and March 2017 respectively.
As many as 103 employees of the mills have lost their lives so far, with a majority of them unable to meet expenses for treatment of their ailments.