The Nagaland Pulp & Paper Company Ltd (NPPCL) at Tuli in Mokokchung district, the only major industry in Nagaland faces the imminent danger of close down.
Set up in 1971, the joint venture of Hindustan Paper Corporation Ltd (HPCL) and Government of Nagaland had stopped operating since August 2015.
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The board of directors of HPC have been dissolved recently and taken over by National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), there is every likelihood of the corporation being sold to a recognized bidder in order to clear the corporation’s accumulated dues, including those of NPPCL, unless the Central Government intervenes into the matter,
Even the State Government is not raising its voice on the issue so far despite its representatives being on the board of directors of NPPCL, the fate of Nagaland’s largest industry is now virtually sealed.
It’s no secret that HPC was very poorly managed over the years, including the Tuli-based paper mill.
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It’s two other papers mills in Assam – Nagaon Paper Mill in Jagiroad and Cachar Paper Mill in Panchgram – too had shut operations largely due to poor management and their employees not paid their salary for months on end.
NPPCL owes lot of money to various vendors, besides its own employees who have not been paid their salary since June 2017.
The Government of India had allocated Rs 100 crore to HPC, of which only Rs 33 crore was diverted to NPPCL.
The amount proved too meagre to clear the pending dues to the vendors and arrear salary of the paper mill’s employees.
The State government had reportedly given a loan of Rs 1.2 crore, out of which three months’ salary was paid, while another one month’s salary was paid out of equity amount.
Subsequently the mill sold scrap and paid another three months’ salary. However, the employees have not been paid since June 2017.