After Ranjanpada, a paper mill employee Inamuddin Ahmed attempts suicide

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If it was a chaos, now its turning to a carnage, just a couple of days after Assam saw 54 year old Municipality Board Mechanical Inspector diving in deep water and committing suicide, a man climbed up a tower of a telecom network and threatened to jump and commit suicide. The incident took place in Jagi Road Morigaon district, Assam. Inamuddin Ahmed an employee of Jagi Road, Hindustan Paper Mil resorted to such a level of desperation because he has not got his salary since last 18 months.

As per information coming in, Inamuddin stayed up on the tower for more than two hours. His colleagues reported the matter to the police, who arrived at the spot and intervened in the matter. Only after constant requests by the police and his colleagues, Inamuddin decided to retreat and eventually he climbed down. He revealed that he is under severe mental agony due to the financial crisis. Several media houses interviewed his family members and they too seemed shattered by the turn of events. 

Things are quite similar in HPC Panchgram too; the employees are finding it very difficult to manage their livelihood. Out of desperation and sheer plight, the employees of both the Paper Mill (Panchgram and Jagi Road) had travelled to Guwahati to demonstrate a human-chain during the opening ceremony of Advantage Assam on February 3, 2018.  Chief Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal and Minister of Commerce and Industries, Suresh Prabhu were among the present dignitaries…

But, on the eve of the opening ceremony the demonstration was called off following Chief Minister’s assurance. Sonowal had assured, “Paper Mill employees will soon get their pending dues,” While Prabhu had said, “We are working hard to start the defunct mill as soon as possible.”

Nothing has happened as yet, and this was not the first occasion when the verbal assurance was used as a weapon to calm things down. Advantage Assam came and gone, investments worth several crores was announced which made big headlines in daily broadsheets and the plight of employees got hidden somewhere between the lines.

Today, speaking at the Legislative Assembly, minister of Industries and commerce, Chandra Mohan Patowary said, “The state government is speaking to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to find a way to restart the defunct Paper Mills. He also said Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal himself has got in touch with the PMO to arrange for the funds which can help the government to clear pending salaries.” 

Meanwhile, wives of all the employees of Cachar Paper Mill (Panchgram) and Jagi Road Paper Mill, had gathered yesterday. They announced that if things are not back in order by March 31 they will go for mass demonstration and create a history which not only Assam but the entire country will witness.

It’s sad when top ministers in the country are getting salary hikes, millions of dollars are poured in hosting events like Namami Brahmaputra, Advantage Assam, Magnetic Maharashtra, people in the same country are committing suicide because they have been denied their salary for a long period of time on a stretch.

The State Government needs to take immediate steps to actually sort out the mess in its own backyard and Central Government should pay some attention towards the scenario, otherwise many more stories like Inamuddin and Ranjanpada will come into the forefront and the rosy PR stories will have to wait to find its course… Any sane minded human being would believe that nobody deserves to die a death Ranjanpada Deb did or Inamuddin today could have died..

Hope the leadership elected by the Ranjanpadas and Inamuddins do find a solution sometime soon…