Till now 81 HPC workers have died after the complete shutdown of the Nagaon Paper Mill (NPM), Jagiroad and the Cachar Paper Mill (CPM), Panchgram. The recent person’s name is Rupam Nath Mazumdar was suffering from cancer for the past few years and due to his unemployment, he couldn’t afford the medical treatment anymore. Again and again, questions are being raised against the government and the officials regarding this matter but till now nothing has changed.
Nowadays, the children of these two paper mill workers in Assam have apparently come out on the streets – not to protest, but to beg. Also, the employees of these mills have not received their salaries for the past 3+ years. Well, the Cachar Paper Mill has been the source of livelihood for around over 1 lakh people and kept a constant record of stable development like the highest annual production during the past few years (while it was functional).
The awaiting salaries of 47 months of the Cachar Paper Mill have not been declared yet… will the government take accountability for what I believe are deliberate homicides? Ironically, a few years back Assam’s Chief Minister Mr Sarbananda Sonowal was certain that the problems will be solved quickly, and fast actions will be taken.
Do you know the government spent a giant amount of money to import paper from external countries, rather than producing at their own? Why?
The whole condition was presented in a written format before the Honorable President as an appeal for support. As an action, the management endorsed a bill of ₹90 crores before the parliament, it was passed on August 27, 2018, apparently. The money went to industrial establishments, but the workers got nothing and dying. Where is that money?
The JACRU (Joint Action Committee of Recognised Unions) president Manobendra Chakraborty smashed the Assam government for not taking any ingenuities to recover the two paper mills since the past four to five years. He stated, “At a time when the Kerala government can take initiatives to take over Hindustan Newsprint Limited (HNL), put up for sale by the central government, why can’t the Assam government revive the mills. Both the Centre and the state government have ignored our pleas and kept us waiting in vain. Employees of Cachar Paper Mill have not received their salaries for 49 months now and yet another employee died after not being able to afford medical treatment.”
The All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) supreme Badruddin Ajmal has stated, “The 2021-22 budget failed to give a financial package to flood-affected persons of Assam. It also failed to provide funds for revival of Cachar and Nagaon paper mills, industrial development for North East especially Assam, and for strengthening railway connectivity in Assam”.
Now, the question is: how many deaths will be an “enough number” for the government to think about this situation? Why isn’t there any initiative from the administration till now?