Assam : One more Cachar Paper Mill employee dies; death toll rises to 114

Another employee of Cachar Paper Mill, a unit of the now-defunct Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited, died of kidney-related disease before the Assam government could initiate any relief measure to the employees of the two paper mills of Assam.
With this, the death toll of employees in the two paper mills, including Nagaon Paper Mill, has gone up to 114, including four who died by suicide.

The deceased person has been identified as Mohan Chandra Deka (58) who hailed from Jagiroad in Morigaon.He was suffering from kidney-related ailments, but could not afford necessary medical treatment because of the financial crisis. His health deteriorated recently after which he was taken to a GMCH hospital.

Fortunately, Government of Assam came forward with a relief package to save lives under the leadership of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.On March 28, 2022, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced that the assets of Nagaon and Cacher paper mills owned by Hindustan Paper Corporation (HPC) have been taken over by the state government by paying Rs 375 crore through a transparent bidding process.

The Nagaon Paper Mill and Cachar Paper Mills had been non-operational since October 2017 and March 2015 respectively and under liquidation proceedings on account of non-clearance of dues of financial and operational creditors as per the order of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Delhi dated November 25, 2019.

The AIDC which was declared the successful bidder on March 28 has taken over the assets of the Nagaon and Cachar paper mills on behalf of the Assam government.

The AIDC had participated in the e-auction process of all the assets, plant, technical area, and township area of Nagaon and Cachar paper mills according to a public announcement on February 26, 2022, at a reserve price of Rs 375 crore.
The Assam government has paid the amount of Rs 375 crores and distributed it by the liquidator as per the norms of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) 2016.

The land area of Nagaon Paper Mill is 1765 bigha, 33 katha and 24 lessa and of Cachar Paper Mill is 2916 bigha, 1 katha and 7 lessa. The total land area of both the paper mills is 4681 bigha, 34 katha and 17 lessa.

Giving a big relief to the ex-employees and workers of the defunct Nagaon and Cachar paper mills, the state government provided a relief package worth Rs 810.02 crore to the workers associated with the mills.

The government, which also initiated steps for employing 84 eligible ex-employees of the mills in the state government, distributed appointment letters to 66 such employees during the programme, at Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra here, on July 7.
It was informed that the package will cost the government Rs 810.02 crore and would benefit 2,751 employees of both mills, including 2,003 regular employees and 748 contractual workers.