From Bhupen Goswami
GUWAHATI : In Assam, another employee of the closed Nagaon Paper Mill of Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited was killed in Morigaon district. A total of 93 employees have died since the closure of the paper mill, out of which four committed suicide. The entire liabilities of the Government of Assam are now Rs. Meanwhile, the unpaid loan of 1,956 employees of the mills is totaling around Rs 450 crore. A recent hearing in the Supreme Court of India revealed that a total PF fund of Rs 186 crore was not paid to EPFO. Manbendra Chakraborty, Chairman, Joint Action Committee of recognized unions of Nagaon and Cachar mills said that the deceased Satish Chandra Patwari (58) was suffering from heart diseases and died of a heart attack.
Chakraborty alleged that Satish had not been treated for the past 56 months. The union leader said patwari’s son had earlier also died after a prolonged illness in 2019. According to Chakraborty, the fourth employee of closed paper mills has died since June 14 and 10 deaths in the last two and a half months after the BJP government led by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma came to power for the second time. “Most of the employees died due to lack of proper treatment as they had not received their salaries or arrears for the last 56 months. These are not normal deaths. They are dying because of the indifference of the authorities. Chakraborty has appealed to the state and central governments to fulfil their commitments and pay all legal dues of the workers and save the lives of the remaining employees. Both these mills have been closed since October 2015 and March 2017 respectively. The BJP government had promised to restart both paper mills since Sarbananda Sonowal took office in 2016. Not only that, while campaigning during the assembly elections held earlier this year, the BJP had said that steps would be taken to revive the mills.
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had ordered sale of all properties of the two closed paper mills as per the decision of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on April 26 after several rounds of meetings and several hearings between all stakeholders. HPC liquidator Kuldeep Verma then issued an advertisement for bidding at a reserve price of Rs 1,139 for the e-auction of the company in June 1, but no bidder was found till the last date of June 15. This was followed by a fresh auction on June 22. The notice for sale of both the mills was issued by the liquidator at a reserve price of Rs 969 crore, which was Rs 170 less than the previous price.
Opposition parties like Congress, AIUDF and Assam Ethnic Council have urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the state chief minister to intervene in the matter and ensure that steps are taken to revive paper mills instead of auctioning them. In this sad moment, HPCL has issued a notice to the employees of two paper mills in Assam to vacate their residential quarters. In the notice, HPCL liquidator Kuldeep Verma has asked the employees of Cachar Paper Mill and Nagaon Paper Mill to vacate the quarters within 15 days. The notice said those who do not comply with the order will face legal action. “As your employment with the corporate debtor was terminated with effect from 02.05.2019 or earlier, as the retirement/resignation/death or termination from the services of the corporate was terminated,” the notification said. The debtor, the accommodation you occupied/occupied by you, is not the same as that of the house. Your possession of the quarters is unauthorized and you need to vacate it. It also says that the undersigned will be able to get your occupied accommodation/accommodation within 15 days of this notice from all notices. Calls for vacating the quarters. The employees of Cachar Paper Mill have not been paid for the last 57 months, while the employees of Nagaon Paper Mill have not been paid for the last 56 months.
