Assam: Paper mills in Nagaon & Cachar up for auction on June 30

GUWAHATI: The auction process for the state-run Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited (HPCL) is underway and the liquidator has notified that an auction will be held on June 30 of 2021 from 10 am to 6 pm.

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.

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.

Ananda Bordoloi, secretary of the Joint Action Committee of Recognised Unions, the union body, said that the laid off employees of the two mills have been blindsided by the notification.

"We feel that they should have approached the government of Assam before before issuing such a 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," he told InsideNE.

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He added that the union members will consult with their respective lawyers to mull what steps to take.

On September 10 of 2020, the Assam government had written a letter to Verma seeking a month’s time to revive the mills.

“Government of Assam has always taken a stand that the closed HPCL mills must be revived at the earliest. Due to closure of the mills, over thousands of workers and employees have been rendered jobless. Local economy has also got severely affected,” the letter stated. However, the 'revival' failed to materialize.

The employees of the Nagaon Paper Mill and the Cachar Paper Mill, which closed in October 2015, have not received their salaries and other dues since February 2017 and December 2016 respectively. Both mills were owned by the Central government-controlled Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited (HPCL) and were closed due to a shortage of working capital.

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