Congress urges Assam CM to stay HPCL paper mills' auction

GUWAHATI: All India Mahila Congress President Sushmita Dev, former MP of Silchar, has written to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to stay the auction order of Assam's two closed paper mills in Cachar and Nagaon and asked him to revive the two mills instead.

"These industries have given good dividends in the past and were viable as an industry. With efficient management in place, I have every reason to believe that these two mills can thrive and provide employment to the youth of Assam," wrote Dev in her letter to CM.

During the recently concluded Assam assembly polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party had repeatedly given assurance to revive these two paper mills if voted to power again. The BJP has mentioned the same in its manifesto.

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Miss Dev wrote, "The Cachar paper Mill in Pachgram is the only public sector industry in Barak valley and needless to say the Hon’ble Prime Minister himself has repeatedly assured that these industries will be revived in the greater interest of Assam. In the recently held assembly election, the Home Minister of India also renewed his assurance to save the two mills."

"More pertinently the manifesto the BJP also gave a commitment for the re-opening of the Naogaon paper Mill although, to our dismay, there was no mention of the Cachar Paper Mill," she added.

In less than a month of forming an NDA-led government again in Assam, the BJP had taken a U-turn and the state-run HPCL has been put up for auction. The liquidator has notified that an auction will be held on June 30 of 2021 from 10 am to 6 pm online.

Citing an example of the State government's recent Rs 2,000 crore investment in the Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) to prevent privatisation, Sushmita Dev opined, "I hope the Assam government will show the same spirit and rescue the two paper mills and their employees from going into private hands at a meager cost of Rs. 1100 odd crores."

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in New Delhi in May 2019 ordered the liquidation of the two paper mills under Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited in Assam.

While speaking to InsideNE, Anand Bordoloi, secretary of the Joint Action Committee of Recognised Unions said, “We feel that they should have approached the government of Assam before issuing such notification as per the directions of the Court. In Kerala, the government was able to revive the mills. Our own government, however, has not been able to step up. The new government should have shown the initiative to look after the mills since they are properties of Assam."

As per a notification, the auction will be held online on mtscecommerce.com. While the reserve price has been set at Rupees 1,139 crore, the EMD amount has been set at Rupees 55 crores, and the minimum incremental bid is Rs 1 crore.

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