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Cachar,\nAssam: The\nemployees of the defunct Cachar\nand Nagaon paper mills\nin Assam had\nboycotted the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.\nThey were upset over the government's inaction to revive the mills\nthat\nhad shut down between 2015 and 2017 because of the shortage of bamboo and funds, and a ban on mining and transportation of coal in the region.\nManabendra Chakraborty,\npresident of Joint Action Committee of Recognised Unions\n(JACRU),\nwhich is a conglomerate of the workers’ unions of the mills, shared this with 101Reporters recently. He adds that the same issue will play on\nthe minds of the local voters as\nAssam goes to Assembly\npolls\nin three phases, beginning March 27.

\nAccording\nto social commentator Joydeep Biswas, who teaches Economics at\nCachar College, the revival of the mills is critical for the economic\nwell-being of the Barak Valley\nas these\nused to employ two lakh people (directly and indirectly). Despite this,\nthe state forces are ignoring\nthe\ninterest\nof\nthe out-of-work mill workers, claims Chakraborty.

\n\n

\n'Our\nright to protest denied'

\n\n

\nChakraborty\nis talking about the recent turn of events. On\nJanuary 25, 2021, the\nCachar district administration\nstopped a candlelight\nmarch that\nJACRU had taken out in\nAssam’s Silchar town in memory of 81\ndeceased employees of the\nCachar\nand Nagaon paper mills.\nThey\ndied because they were\nunable to cope with the financial and psychological stress\nfollowing the closure of the mills,\nmembers of JACRU allege. The mill workers have not received their salaries for\naround 49 months, Chakraborty makes a case.

\n\n

\n\"Our\nconstitutional right to stage peaceful protests is being denied. We\ncan’t even mourn the loss of our colleagues. We\nhad informed the Cachar Deputy Commissioner and the Superintendent of\nPolice\n[about the protest].\nWe\nhad\nalso\nsecured a permission order from the office of the Additional District\nMagistrate. Yet our protest was stopped”, Chakraborty\nrecounts.\n

\n\n

\nHe\nsays the\nprotestors were made to wait for one and a half hours before a fresh\norder was issued, which finally denied them permission to hold the march.\n

\n\n

\nHowever,\nBhanwar\nLal Meena, Superintendent of Police, Cachar, cited safety reasons for\ncancelling the protest.\nHe\nsaid, \"It\nhas been prohibited under\nSection 144 in many districts to carry fire items like mashal\n(flaming torch), lighter or candles because they pose safety hazards.\nIt applies\nto the Cachar\ndistrict too”.

\n\n

Following\nthis\nincident and in the run-up to the Assembly elections,\nJACRU members decided to stage protest demonstrations in front of the\nhomes of the elected representatives of the\nBarak\nValley. On\nFebruary 2, they held a demonstration in front of Silchar MLA Dilip\nKumar Paul's house, and\non February 20,\nthey took their protest to the\ncurrent Silchar MP Dr Rajdeep Roy’s residence.

\"We\nwere told that a delegation of the\nmill\nworkers could meet the Chief Minister [Sarbananda\nSonowal] during\nhis visit to the\nBarak\nValley on February 23.\n[The\nvisit got postponed\nto March 11.]\nBut he did\nnot meet our\ndelegation as promised,”\ncomplains\nSadhan Ghosh, an employee of the Cachar Paper Mill.

'Lack\nof political will'

Chakraborty\nlambasted the elected representatives of the\nBarak\nValley for giving false assurances regarding the revival of the\nmills.\nHe also pointed out that Prime\nMinister Narendra Modi has failed to deliver the promise he made\nbefore the 2016 Assembly Elections that the mills would be revived if\nBJP came to power in Assam.

Meanwhile,\nthe issue has become a tug of war between BJP and Congress leaders. \nSushmita\nDev, president of the All India Mahila Congress and former MP of\nSilchar says, “If BJP leaders claim that the mills became\nnon-operational during the tenure of the Congress then they are\ntalking like ignorant fools\". If\nthere has been some 'malpractice or corruption',\nthen the BJP should file FIRs and arrest the culprits,\nDev suggests.\n\n

\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n

If\nCachar\nand Nagaon paper\nmills\nhaven't yet reopened it's because\nof \"the\nsheer lack of political will\",\nsays Biswas while citing the example of how the\ngovernment of Kerala came forward to\nrevive\nHindustan Newsprint Limited, a unit of Hindustan Paper Corporation\nLimited (HPC).

But\nin Assam, the\nhearing in the case has been deferred more than eight times, \nChakraborty informs 101Reporters.\nThe matter regarding the liquidation of the two paper mills owned by\nHPC is pending with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

\n\n

On\nthe part of Roy, the current BJP MP from the region, he had raised\nthe issue in the parliament only once in 2020. However, he was unavailable\nfor comments on the delay in the settlement of the case. \n

“It\nis a conspiracy to handover the mills at the rate of peanuts to a\nhandful of businessmen. The NCLT hearing was intentionally delayed so\nthat the Assembly Elections get declared and the state government\nfinds another excuse to neglect our demands”, an upset Ghosh\nbelieves.

","postTitleURL":"Assam_paper_mills_row_heats_up_ahead_of_Assembly_polls","mainCat":["national"]}]