GUWAHATI:
One more employee of Cachar Paper Mill died on December 18 taking the toll to 112 even as the Assam government invited Expressions of Interest (EoI) from private entities for the revival of the mill.
Nine months after the state-run Assam Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) took over both Cachar and Nagaon paper mills, two employees died in the paper mill within this week.
“Our beloved colleague of Cachar Paper Mill, Champalal Bhor, a resident of Pachgram in Hailakandi district, lost the battle of life and departed to his heavenly abode at around 12.50 am on December 18 at a private Nursing Home on Silchar. He was 58,” Manobendra Chakraborty, president, Joint Action Committee of Recognised Unions (JACRU) of Nagaon and Cachar Paper Mills, said.
“He has been suffering from liver diseases and other complications,” Chakraborty said.
The fate of the employees of the two paper mills is still uncertain.
On December 16, another employee of Cachar Paper Mill – Rajib Deb, a resident of Tarapur, Station Road of Silchar, died at Silchar Medical College and Hospital at 56-years of age.
Deb has been suffering from neuro-diseases followed by cerebral stroke and was undergoing treatment at Silchar Medical College & Hospital.
The AIDC has invited the EoI and notices inviting tender for the Cachar Paper Mill for 30 years lease of the machinery and the land along with the township. The bidding process started on November 14 and will end on January 9, 2023.
“Lease of plant and machinery along with land, lease of township area with civil structure, lease of vacant land of Cachar Paper Milland “sale of plant and pieces of machinery of Nagaon Paper Mill without land” on an “as is where is basis”.
The three categories of the transaction include machinery, land area and township along vacant lands.
The first category of transaction stated” “lease of plant and machinery area with plant, machinery, equipment of Cachar Paper Mill for the revival of the paper mill on as is where is basis. 659 bighas of land fall under this category.
In the second category, 924 bighas of land are available in the transaction category stating: “Lease of township area of Cachar Paper Mill along with the civil structures in the township on as is where is basis.” 1,333 bighas of vacant land also form the third category on the lease on a “is as where” basis.
All these transaction categories are made available for 30 years of the lease.
The notification also stated: “The bidder can bid for any or all the transaction categories and the financial bid shall be evaluated as per the evaluation process as mentioned in the EOI/tender documents.”
“We welcome the state government for its initiative to revive the paper mill. We will also welcome anybody who comes forward to support our movement to start functioning of the mill,” Chakraborty also said.
Since 2014, there was a move to sell the Cachar paper Mill. But due to our consistent movement, the move was stopped. Just for a debt of Rs 98 lakh, the paper mill was declared bankrupt,” he added.
On March 28, this year, 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.