NEW DELHI, July 31 - Congress Rajya Sabha MP Ripun Bora on Wednesday urged the Centre to take immediate steps to revive the two paper mills under Hindustan Paper Corporation (HPC) in the State.
Making a Special Mention in the Rajya Sabha, Bora said it is unfortunate that though Prime Minister Narendra Modi publicly assured the people of Assam on a number of occasions to revive the two paper mills with a special package, but it was not done in the last three years.
Surprisingly, the Industry Minister in the Lok Sabha while replying to a question on July 9, this year said that during 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18 Rs.4,141 crore fund was given to these paper mills. �If it is so, I demand a CBI probe to enquire where this huge amount of money went. If it is so, why are the two mills still closed. Why its employees are facing starvation?�
Bora said that two mills � Jagiroad Paper Mill and Panchgram Paper Mill � had been running very successfully and earning profits in the last four decades. Unfortunately, due to mismanagement of the Central Government, these two PSUs are incurring losses since 2014.
�On this pretext, the Heavy Industry Ministry has closed down the two paper mills. There are nearly 8,000 direct employees and more than 20,000 have got indirect employment there. But due to closure of the two paper mills, the future of 8,000 employees, their families and the indirectly employed 20,000 employees and their families is uncertain.
