GUWAHATI, July 7 (PTI): The Assam government will spend Rs 810 crore to resolve issues concerning two defunct paper mills of Hindustan Paper Corporation Ltd, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Thursday.
Out of this amount, banks will have to be paid Rs 150 crore and the Assam Power Distribution Company Ltd (APDCL) around Rs 60-80 crore, while the remaining amount will be distributed among the employees of the Nagaon and Cachar paper mills at Jagiroad and Panchgram, Sarma said.
The chief minister was speaking at the ceremonial distribution of the relief package to the paper mill employees here.
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The state government will regularise the pension of the retired employees by depositing the due amount, “which the HPCL should have paid”, with the Provident Fund Commissioner, Sarma said.
The Assam government will also pay the gratuity amount, while the salary of the employees will be deposited by the liquidator, he said.
Appointment letters were also given to 66 employees of the paper mills in various government departments.
A trust will be set up with a corpus of Rs 25 crore, and the interest earned from it will be used to help former employees during any situation of distress.
HPCL’s two paper mills – Cachar Paper Mill and Panchgram in Hailakandi district, and Nagaon Paper Mill at Jagiroad in Morigaon district – have been non-functional since October 2015 and March 2017 respectively, with employees not receiving salaries for the past five years.
