STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: Raijor Dal president and Sivasagar MLA Akhil Gogoi has written a letter to the Prime Minister to cancel the e-auctioning of the debt-ridden Nagaon and Cachar paper mills. He has urged the government to urgently take measures to revive and modernize the paper mills keeping in tandem with the best professional practices to convert them from loss-making entity to profitable enterprises like the Navratnas and Maharatnas of India.
"These two public sector industries, source of livelihood and hope for thousands of employees and others, have been debt-ridden and defunct since 2017 and 2015 respectively. These two industries were symbols of modern Assam's economic prosperity after oil and tea industries," wrote Gogoi in his letter.
The MLA underlined that in April 2021, the BJP-led government made promises that it will not only revive the paper mills but augment paper production, increase bamboo production in Assam and scale up paper distribution all over India.
"This was a matter of sheer happiness not only for those beleaguered employees but also for Assam's industrial prospects. However, the latest notice for an e-auction would indeed be a severe blow to all those promises," the letter read. The leader said that the government can extend help to run these industries as best profit-making industries and if needed Assam's entrepreneurs could also be roped in.
"The NEPA paper mills case of Madhya Pradesh and the revival of the Hindustan Newsprint Limited by the government of Kerala can be a model that would add a new lease of life to the Nagaon and Cachar Paper mills. I would also urge you to consider the optimal utilization of the vast expanse of lands that these industries currently own and further developing it into industrial zones for the Assam's MSME industries," added Gogoi in his letter.
Gogoi also wrote a letter to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and urged him to bring the paper mills under the State government.