Cachar and Nagaon mills: HPC Revival Action Committee stages agitation to protest death of 51 workers

The HPC Paper Mills Revival Action Committee, joint body of the workers’ unions of Cachar Paper Mill and Nagaon Paper Mill, staged an agitation in front of Cachar Paper Mill at Panchgram in Hailakandi district on Saturday in protest against the death of the mills’ 51 workers, who have died after the mills ceased functioning.

The committee, which has been raising its voice over the issue for the past several months, staged the agitation as part of its campaign ahead of the Lok Sabha elections against the BJP for not fulfilling its promise of reviving the mill and remitting the workers’ pending salaries.

The committee members gathered in front of the mill around 8:30am this morning and staged the protest. The mill, set up in 1988, is the only major industrial undertaking in Barak Valley in south Assam. Production has been suspended in the mill since October, 2016. Nagaon Paper Mill, located at Jagiroad in Morigaon district, was set up in 1970. Its production has been suspended since March, 2017.

The committee’s chief convener Manobendra Chakraborty said though the mills’ workers and their families had been suffering immensely over the past several months because of non-payment of salaries, the government did not take any initiative to resolve the issue.

Speaking about the Cachar Paper Mill, Chakraborty said the pitiable condition of the mill, the sole industry in Barak Valley, has rendered around 2 lakh people jobless. This has severely affected the economy of the valley, he said.

Further, he took a jibe at the government saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal had crossed all limits of giving fake promises. The people of Barak Valley have now come to know that even the assurance of the Prime Minister can be false, he said apparently mocking Modi, who had announced in his campaign trail in Barak Valley that the mill would be revived would be revived if the BJP came to power.

He said 51 workers had died since the mills ceased functioning and blamed poverty, excessive stress and lack of medical treatment for the deaths. “The government had murdered these people.” He also urged the common people to come together and give the BJP a strong reply through the ballots in the upcoming polls.

“As part of the campaign, protests would be staged everyday till election. We want to make this clear that we are not going to remain silent till our demands are fulfilled,” he said.

Committee co-convener Ajijur Rahman Mazumder said even though the mills’ workers had been suffering over the past two years, the government seems to be in oblivion and is not bothered about their plight at all. He urged the masses to join hands and raise a strong and united voice against the government for “betraying” them. Members Dipak Chandra Nath, Dilip Suklabaidya, Azir Uddin and Najmul Islam were also present.

Karimganj North MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha visited the spot around 12:30pm. He spoke to the committee members, discussed about the issues and assured his co-operation in the fight for their rights. Both the mills will be made functional if the Congress comes to power, Purkayastha said.