Silchar, July 21: Kamalendu Nath, an employee of the Cachar Paper Mill, a closed industry under the Hindustan Paper Corporation (HPC) and a resident of Tarapur part-VII passed away on Wednesday at around 845 pm at a private nursing home at the age of 57 years in Silchar.
Manabendra Chakraborty, president of the Joint Action Committee of Recognised Unions (JACRU) informed on Thursday that the deceased person is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter. Nath was suffering from severe diabetes, cardiac ailment and other serious complications but failed to afford desired treatment in time due to financial crisis owing to nonpayment of salary for the last 65 months by Government of India and finally he died, Chakraborty alleged.
"The death toll of our colleagues has risen to 108 now. The workers of the two paper mills under HPC, those of whom are alive, are passing days with unbearable suffering, stress, trauma and lost all hope to live life with human dignity as the Government of India is yet to remit our salaries lying pending since the last 65 months. Fortunately, in a recent move, the State Government headed by Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma came forward with a relief package and started disbursement of Relief Package which includes a portion of salary approximately of about 16 months from the Government of Assam to save lives It is pertinent to note that the irreparable damages already caused earlier is now resulting into premature deaths one after another.
Hence we feel that the onus of all such deaths rests on the Government of India and the former Chief Minister of Assam respectively who failed to resolve the crisis in time. We echo our demand that the Central Government must remit the complete dues at the earliest," the JACRU president claimed.
