One more employee of closed Cachar Paper Mill at Panchgram in south Assam’s Hailakandi district has passed away allegedly due to lack of proper treatment.
62-year-old Mohan Singh, a resident of Binnakandi in the Cachar district, died on Thursday.
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Singh, who was suffering from multiple complications, passed away around 3.20 PM on Thursday while he was on the way to Shillong for treatment.
With this, the death toll in the paper mill increased to 99 including four who committed suicide.
Manobendra Chakraborty, leader of Cachar Paper Mill Employees Union alleged that late Singha failed to arrange desired treatment on time due to nonpayment of salary and other statutory dues for last 59 months.
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Chakraborty alleged that he didn’t receive a single penny from his legitimate retirement dues of his entire service life which forced him to die without required treatment in time.
Asia’s biggest paper mills — Cachar Paper Mill at Panchgram in Hailakandi district and Nagaon Paper Mill at Jagiroad in Morigaon district — both units of Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited — have been in non-functional since October 2015 and March 2017 respectively.
The employees of the two mills have not gotten their salaries for the past many months. The government has finally decided to sell both the mills.
The Assam government in September last year acquired the assets of the two closed mills of Hindustan Paper Corporation Ltd, and provide a relief package of Rs 570 crore to its employees.
However, the employees have not got the package so far.