Patowary blames HPC authorities for closure of two papers mills

BY OUR STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Feb 8: State Industry and Commerce Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary today said in the Assembly that even though the State Government paid Rs 35 crore to Hindustan Paper Corporation (HPC) for supplying papers for printing free textbooks, the gaon Paper Mill under HPCL supplied papers to a Gaziabad-based party, instead of providing papers to the State government.

Replying to a question by Congress MLA Kamalakshya Dey Purakayastha, Patowary said that the government placed the order to gaon Paper Mill to provide some relief to the Mill a succour.

He further said that despite such an attitude, the State government is taking steps for the revival of the two mills -- gaon Paper Mill and Panchgram (Cachar) paper Mill under the HPC.

“We have discussed the issue with the Union Heavy Industry Ministry, which has informed us that the ministry is preparing a Cabinet Memorandum for revival of the two mills,” Patowary said.

He said that the Heavy Industry Minister had informed him that the process of revival of the two mills would start after Cabinet approval.

Blaming HPC authorities for the closure of the two mills, Patowary said that both the mills have closed down due to mismagement of the HPC.

“The CMD, Director (Fince) and Director (Operation) of HPC are responsible for the plight of the two mills,” Patowary said.

The two paper mills have been closed since October, 2015.

On the other hand, Fince and Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the officials and employees of the mills must have a sense of responsibility and sense of duty for its smooth functioning.

“Mere revival of the two mills will not help unless officers and staff have commitment and a sense of duty,” Sarma said.

The Minister said, “We paid Rs 35 crore to HPC for supplying papers for the printing of textbooks but they failed to do it. The HPC CMD had frequently texted me until he get the amount, but when we placed the order he stopped all communications with us. Now everybody is blaming me for failing to provide textbook to students,” Sarma said.