Hailakandi, Dec 31: One more death of an employee of defunct Cachar Paper Mill of Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited in Panchgram of Hailakandi district.
With this, the death toll raised to 99 including four committed suicide. Mohan Singh of Cachar Paper Mill expired on Thursday at around 3.20 PM while he was on the way to Shillong for treatment. He was a resident of Binnakandi of Cachar district. He was suffering from severe liver ailment including heart disease. The leader of the employees union, Manobendra Chakraborty alleged that late Singha failed to arrange desired treatment in time due to nonpayment of salary and other statutory dues since last 59 months and lost the battle for his life at 62 only, He also even didn't receive single penny from his legitimate retirement dues of entire service life withheld by the Government of India which forced him to die without required treatment in time, Chakraborty added.
It can be mentioned here that Asia's biggest paper mills -- Cachar Paper Mill at Panchgram in Hailakandi district and Nagaon Paper Mill at Jagiroad in Morigaon district -- both units of Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited -- have been in non-functional condition since October, 2015 and March, 2017 respectively. Their employees have not gotten their salaries for the past many months. The government has finally decided to sell both the mills.
