JAGIROAD, Feb 27 - A citizens� rally held on February 25 under the aegis of the Morigaon District AASU, decided to give further momentum to the ongoing public agitation for immediate revival of the Nagaon Paper Mill and release of all pending dues to its employees by mobilizing active support from all sections of the society of the district.
Held in front of the main gate of the administrative office-cum-factory of the Mill, in the meeting speakers came down heavily upon the Government for what they called its indifferent and inhuman attitude to the plight of the employees of the HPC mills who were left in the lurch for about 15 months without their salaries. Ananda Bordoloi, secretary, Kagaj Nigam Karmi Union (KNKU) while urging the Government to immediately end the nightmare of the employees stated in unequivocal terms that the employees would not concede to the government�s move to privatize the units which it seems to be preparing by artificially creating a crisis for the employees. He recalled that the Chief Minister on the eve of the Advantage Assam programme had assured the KNKU that it would solve the deadlock very soon on hearing which the employees� body too resolved to withdraw its decision for a stir in the form of human chain slated to be organized at Guwahati during the said international event. He rued that the Government had since done nothing to bring relief to the hapless families of the employees.
Atanu Sarma, secretary, Asam Unnati Sabha castigated both the state and the Union governments for their long indifference to the present and the future of the mill. Representatives from various local bodies besides various prominent citizens too spoke in the meeting and empathized upon the plight of the employees� families of the mill.
President of the Morigaon AASU Himangshu Mahanta chaired the rally in which AASU central executives Naba Kr Nath, Abanti Kr Bora, among others also spoke on the issue.