Cachar HPC Employee dies at the age of 54; Treatment without salary is unaffordable highlights JACRU

Another Hindustan Paper Mill worker breathed his last on this Friday in a nursing home in Silchar. The death toll among the workers of HPC in Assam now stands at 104 including four cases of self killings.

The deceased person is Hifzur Rahaman (54) was a resident of Badarpurghat, he was a technician at Hindustan Paper Corporation Mill at Panchgram.

Hifzur Rahaman had health complications due to Diabetes, he had got high fever earlier this week and was taken to Gracewell Nursing Home in Silchar, there he breathed his last. His last rites will be performed today.

The workers of HPC Mills in Assam’s Nagaon and Cachar is lying dysfunctional since six years, and almost 1200 employees of these two mills haven’t got their salary and other employee benefits since 64 months.

The central government and state government has made blueprint to liquidate the properties, but workers are not getting their money and going through penury.

Assam Government now owns all the property of both HPC Mills. The workers front reached to an agreement with the government, where government had declared a 570 crore relief package for the employees, but the workers are yet to get their due.

“In Sept. 2021 the MoU signed between Central Government, State government and worker union, they promised to release the payment within two months. Eight months passed nothing have been done yet,” Manabendra Chakraborty, the president of JACRU told Barak Bulletin.

“The DC Cachar has verified all the documents of pending payment of HPC Cachar employees, all the paper works done. On May 11 this year, the authority called us for meeting, where they deviated from the MoU that was signed last year. They said government can’t give provident fund and pensions owing to some legal challenges, but they will pay the pending salary and gratuity. But there’s no communication from the authorities end, ” the JACRU president informed.