RS Gandhi will be compelled to sell bamboo of Karbi Anglong and NC Hill to Assam HPC mills, says State Industries Minister
By our Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI, July 26: Assam Industries Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary today assured the Assam Assembly that Dispur is not going to allow the closure of the two Hindustan Paper Corporation (HPC) mills of Assam. The two paper mills have been under the threat of closure in the disinvestment policy of the Centre.
Patowary said this while responding to a query raised by AGP MLA Prafulla Kumar Mahta during the Zero Hour of the Assembly today. Mahanta said that the two HPC mills of Assam – one at Jagiroad and the other at Panchgram near Badarpur in Cachar district – are among the Central public sectors undertakings (PSUs) that are on the verse of closure. He said that three of the four HPC mills are in the Northeast.
Patowary said that while the paper mill at Panchgram has stopped production, the one at Jagiroad still produces paper. One of the problems these two paper mills have to confront is lack of raw materials – bamboo. "With the production of the paper mill at Jagoriad, the salaries of both the paper mills and the expenditure of PHC Kolkata headquarters are being met. However, if this practice is allowed to continue for long, the mill at Jagiroad will have to meet its dead-end one day. However, we won't let that happen. Already Chief Minister Sarbanda Sonowal has taken up the matter with the Union Minister of Heavy Industries."
Mahanta further said that the bamboo being produced in Karbi Anglong and NC Hills districts in the State were under the grip of a syndicate being run by one RS Gandhi. "Gandhi doesn't supply the bamboo to any of the State paper mills as he sells them to mills outside the State at higher prices," the former chief minister said.
In his reply Patowary said: "We're here to do all to keep the two paper mills alive. The two mills face the problem of working capital. We'll see the problem. On the issue of RS Gandhi, we know to tackle it. He'll have to supply the bamboo being produced in the State to the two State paper mills. We'll compel him to sell the raw materials in Assam itself, failing which drastic action will follow."