Guwahati: An employee of the Cachar Paper Mill has lost his life thereby pushing the death toll of the Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited (HPCL) in Assam to 103.
Rajendra Kumar Daloi is the name of the deceased employee and he hailed from Cuttack in Odisha. He was 58 years old.
According to reports, he was suffering from kidney-related ailments and was unable to afford his treatment due to financial constraints as a result of non-payment of salary.
Joint Action Committee of Recognised Union (JACRU) of Nagaon and Cachar Paper Mills claimed that this was the 18th death since Himanta Biswa Sarma took charge as the chief minister of Assam in May 2021.
As many as 103 employees have passed away after HPC's two mills in Cachar and Nagaon halted their operations.
Notably, the Cachar Paper Mill at Panchgram in Hailakandi district has ceased their operations since October 2015 while Nagaon Paper Mill at Jagiroad in Morigaon district has been non-functional since March 2017.
There were allegations that no action was taken by authorities despite repeated appeals for the resurgence of the non-operational paper mills.
The Assam government had announced their decision of acquiring HPC's two defunct paper mills for a whopping Rs 375 crore on March 28.
The JACRU stated that the state government has agreed to a relief package to assist the employees but they added that the money has not yet been released.
Meanwhile, the employees of the Cachar and Nagaon plants have not received their salaries since January and March of 2017.
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