Guwahati, June 7: An ailing employee of Nagaon Paper Mill passed away on Monday, taking the death toll of workers of two “closed” Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited (HPCL)-owned paper mills up to 105.
Koliman Basumatary, 57, a resident of Dewshal village in Jagiroad under Morigaon district, died of a severe cardiac attack around 4pm on Monday.
The unfortunate news comes just a day after Hizfur Rahman (54), an employee of Cachar Paper Mill, died in Silchar on Sunday evening
“Basumatary passed away at his residence in Dewshal village yesterday after a severe cardiac attack. As it is, he was suffering from serious heart diseases but could not afford the desired treatment due to financial crisis in the wake of nonpayment of salary for the past 64 months,” Manobendra Chakraborty, president of the Joint Action Committee of Recognised Unions (JACRU) of the Nagaon and Cachar paper mills, informed on Tuesday.
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.
“With two deaths in back-to-back days, the death toll of employees of the two mills has now gone up to 105, which also includes four deaths by suicide. This is also the 20th death after the new government in Assam came to power in May last year,” Chakraborty said.
“The workers have lost all hope to live life with dignity as they are unable to meet the expenses of medical treatment with their salaries not paid since the past five years,” he reiterated.
It may be recalled that the Assam government had earlier taken over the assets of the two mills with Assam Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) declared as the successful bidder.