GUWAHATI, Nov 29 - State Industry Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary today told the Assam Assembly that though the State government has not received any correspondence from the Centre regarding the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT)�s order on liquidation of Nagaon and Cachar paper mills yet, the communication between State and Union government over this issue will continue.
He said that no official correspondence has been made by the Central department concerned over the closure of the paper mills.
The government has come to know about the order only through the media yesterday, Patowary said. He was responding to AIUDF�s Mamun Imdadul Haque Chawdhury�s questions during the Zero Hour.
�The State government had tried to revive the paper mills, even as these mills are not directly under the Government of Assam. From time to time, we sought revival packages from the Union government and took up the matter both at official and personal levels. At one point of time, one such attempt by the State government was about to reach the Union Cabinet level. However, in the mean time, in June 2018, the NCLT started a Corporate Resolution Process as per the application of a vendor,� he said.
Haque Chawdhury, while raising the issue said that not so long ago, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had assured the daughter of a paper mill employee about reviving the mill. �The incident had grabbed media attention for quite long. However, nothing could be done to keep that promise. Now, with the NCLT order, the future of the paper mill employees and their families is once again dark.�
It may be noted that the NCLT has ordered liquidation of Hindustan Paper Corporation and appointed an Official Liquidator for HPC. Subsequently, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal directed the Official Liquidator to ensure that the HPC remains a �going concern� during the liquidation.
Earlier, Union Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Minister Prakash Javadekar had said in a Lok Sabha reply to a question raised by Pradyut Bordoloi that Cachar Paper Mill, Panchgram and Nagaon Paper Mill, Jagiroad, are mills of the Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited in Assam. These mills are not in operation. The NCLT, through an order, directed initiation of the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), 2016 against HPC.
