Another employee of Assam’s closed paper mill dies; toll rises to 106

SILCHAR: Another employee of Cachar Paper Mill, Panchgram, a unit of state-owned Hindustan Paper Corporation Ltd, passed away on Monday. Altogether 106 employees have died since the state’s two paper mills, including Nagaon Paper Mill, Jagiroad, stopped functioning.
A functionary of the Joint Action Committee of Recognised Unions of the two mills said the deceased person — Gopal Chandra Bhar — who hailed from Panchgram in Hailakandi district and worked as a technician (utility) at the now-defunct Cachar Paper Mill, was suffering from hepatitis and some other ailments, but could not afford necessary medical treatment because of the financial crisis.
On Monday morning, he was rushed to a government hospital in Kalinagar after he fell unconscious suddenly. He was declared dead at the hospital. He is survived by his wife and three sons. Bhar was 57.
The two mills — Cachar Paper Mill at Panchgram in Hailakandi district and Nagaon Paper Mill at Jagiroad in Morigaon district — have been lying non-functional since October 2015 and March 2017 respectively.
Their employees have not received their salaries for the past 64 and 62 months respectively. According to the mills’ unions, at least 106 employees have died (including the death on Sunday) after the industrial units became non-functional, mostly of poverty, trauma and lack of medical treatment.