Mismanagement, fund crunch and irregular supply of raw materials has put the Cachar paper mill on brink of closure. The employees and casual laborers of the mill are put under tight corner and the management has maintained complete silence over the whole affairs. Production of the paper mill has been confined to the tune of daily material collection from various sources. The supply of disproportionate raw materials could not ease the tension of high officials. Supply of bamboo, coal, lime etc, are urgently required to run the factory.
The problems in supply of bamboo from North Cachar Hills to this mill began about three years back due to legal complexities, unwillingness of contractors and suppliers. Afterwards, Mizoram also failed to supply the required quantity of bamboos. Whereas, the consumption of bamboo is one thousand tons per day, it is in position to supply only 100 tons a day. However, the bamboo supply from North Cachar Hills has slightly improved to the tune of about seven to eight hundred tones. On the other hand, there is no coal in the stock to run the factory. In absence of coal the factory has to be closed during the nights. According to the mill sources, 34 trucks of ‘black diamond’ is required per day. There is no chance of getting supply of coal to continue the production.
There is also serious problem in getting supply of lime. The contractors are not interested to supply raw materials as their huge amount is due on the factory for long time. They demand cash amount for further supply. For the Mill’s Caustic and Chlorine plant salt is an essential item, which is brought from Gujarat. Due to failure in sending money in advance for its supply, it could not be brought from there. For emergency purpose about two hundred tones of salt have been purchased from the open market of Cachar for running the plant, which is also likely to exhaust soon. The management has sent a request to its Jagi Road unit to supply some salt. If the caustic and chlorine production is stopped, the paper production will not be possible.
For production of finished items all raw materials are required to be ready in stock, otherwise production cannot be possible. For example the Mill’s power plant is to stop production due to no availability of coal. On the other hand the power has to be purchased from the Electricity Board at higher rates. According to official sources, the cost of paper production has increased due to lower rate of production in the plant. For a long time, due to less production per ton variable cost has increased. At present per metric ton cost of paper comes to about Rs.42,000,which is equal to its selling price or even a bit less. As result the workers’ salaries, allowances etc; fixed cost is going under loss account and the Mill’s capital is decreasing day by day. Besides, the Mill’s huge amount is due on Sarva Siksha Mission, Paschim Banga Government and various government departments. Even after so many remainders the payments are not coming. At this stage if a heavy amount is not received from any source, the factory would face closure any time, the sources said.
22 Sep 2008 - 11:37pm | Monjib Mochahari
BODOLAND, popularly known as the “Hidden Paradise of Assam” is located on the north bank of Brahmaputra river in Assam in the North-East India by the foothills of Bhutan and Arunachal...
30 Mar 2016 - 4:35pm | Jayanta Kumar Das
Aryabhatta Science Centre,Kalaigaon under ASTEC (Assam Science Technology and Environment Council)organized two workshops on basic astronomy at Kalaigaon and Bananguri in Udalguri district on March...
26 Jul 2012 - 7:20pm | editor
A home ministry team visited Dhubri to take stock of the prevailing law and order scene in the district in the wake of the spreading ethnic clash. Led by home ministry’s joint secretary...
7 Jun 2008 - 6:43pm | editor
A special court in Delhi on Saturday has remanded sacked education minister Ripun Bora, his aides Ramesh Maheswari and journalist Mukul Pathak to judicial custody. The court will hear on Monday a...
Gamusas and Japis are two important items in Assam, which are in much demand throughout the year in the state especially during festival seasons and social functions. These items are demanded by the people to honor the guests and honorable persons during each and every event. However, it has been found that throughout the festival seasons the supply of locally woven gamusas are not according to demand by the customers. The reason behind it is said to be heavy cost of the locally produced items. On the other hand the weavers and traders from other parts of the country take advantage of supplying gamusas at cheaper rates and make more profit despite spending heavy cost on...
Archaeological Survey of India, Guwahati circle, has been trying to take-up the work of repairing of a broken pillar in the Mandap of Hayagriva Madhav Temple at Hajo for a long time. ASI, Guwahati has informed the media through a press note that one of the pillars of ancient temple was broken in three parts due to rusting of the iron dowels holding each other and the other developed cracks due to the same reason and widened more after the earthquake of May 2015. Hayagriva Madhav Temple is a reconstructed temple during the Koch period. The architectural parts of the earlier temple have been used for reconstruction. Different parts of the temple have been used randomly for making the pillars...
There is a generation gap between the signing of Assam Accord on the Independence Day 1985 and the present generation has to face new challenges to compete with the world class people in all spheres of development. The young people are confused over the airing of old issues which have lasted for long 31 years in absence of any solution. The issues pertaining to the Accord have become irrelevant under the present circumstances. The Assam Accord issue is still haunting and confusing the present generation due to absence of a clear picture. The fate of the Accord is not known to the people in general. A few politicians and intellectuals are trying to raise the issues of the accord from time to...
It is an established fact that a person involved in political activities cannot remain in peace till his cherished dreams are fulfilled. This can be noticed through the recent statements of former Assam chief minister, Tarun Gogoi, who has been expressing his views frequently in media against the four months old BJP-led alliance government in the state under the chief minister ship of Sarwanand Sonowal. He (Gogoi) dares to demand a ‘white paper’ from state government about the steps taken by it to clear the encroachments of forest and other government lands in the state and also to let the people of the state know, what action it has taken to identify and deport the foreign...
Addressing a huge gathering of residents of Udaypur, Jonakpur and Birubari at Udaypur Kali Mandir complex on Sunday, July 3, 2016, East Guwahati Assembly Member, Siddharth Bhattacharjee, emphasized the need of implementing the vision document of development as envisaged by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Speaking at the function organized by Udaypur Yuva Sangha to felicitate him on his success in the recently concluded polls to the state Assembly, he conveyed his thanks to the people of the area for showing their confidence in him. He assured the people that he would not let their confidence go in vain. The meeting was presided over by Dr Phani Borah. Senior citizen of the locality Kartik...
Hardly a few days ago, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Alliance has taken the reign of Assam administration the results of efforts made by Chief Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal under the guidance of PM Narendra Modi to bring back black money to the state coffer, has started recently with the arrest of Dhemaji Divisional Forest Officer, Mahat Chandra Talukdar by anti-corruption department. For a long time the reports of wildlife crimes were in the air, but the previous state administration ruled by Congress Party under the three-terms leadership of Tarun Gogoi did not try to take any action. The former Chief Minister Gogoi was under a wrong impression that the people who gave him a...
A study conducted by B Boruah Cancer Institute, Guwahati, has revealed that during a decade from 2001-02 to 2011-12, cancer cases in the north-eastern part of the country have gone up from 5,404 to 8,708. A campaign, namely, Cycle 4 ride can help control this dreaded disease. In order to raise awareness to fight cancer a lady, namely, Marcellna Sangma, is going to lead a Biker Mission to 600 kms long stretch from Guwahati to Bum La Pass, near Indo-China border in Arunachal Pradesh. The ride is scheduled to be flagged off by Dr Amar Chandra Kataki, Director, B Boruah Cancer Institute, on April 21, 2016.Expressing her traumatic experience with cancer, Sangma, who was a cancer patient a decade...
Being disturbed since the first phase of polling for Assam Assembly on April 4 last, the Assam Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi is finding it difficult to remember the history of Assam agitation propelled by All Assam Students Union (AASU) since the year 1979 to the Independence Day of 1985, resulting in the Assam Accord which was signed between the Assam Government and the movement leaders in presence of erstwhile prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi. Heavy polling beyond 85 percent of the electorate in the second phase also made Gogoi to think over the majority of young and new voters were not the ‘beneficiaries of getting blankets, yarn and mosquito nets’. They are young, energetic, literate and...
Continuing campaigns for Assam Assembly elections have confused the Assam intellectuals to raise vital issues before the future state legislators and improve the quality of political atmosphere affecting the entire society for quite some time. Almost all political parties have started ‘derogatory’ comments against their rivals for attracting the electorates by their acts and objectives about which they are themselves ignorant. The main reason behind such interpretation is lack of knowledge about the real issues on which the political parties are campaigning. Assam as a state of multi-lingual and religious people continued to be disturbed since the year1979, when several organizations under...
Long awaited North East Graduate Congress, an initiative of Education Research Development Foundation (ERDF) is going to be held from February 26 to 28, 2016. This is the only graduate congress in India being organized by University of Science and Technology, Meghalaya (USTM) in association with RIST and supported by the State Bank of India (SBI). The venue of the congress is the USTM campus at 9th mile, Khanapara. Addressing the media persons in Guwahati on February 14, 2016, the USTM spokesperson informed that the three days congress is aimed to enhance all round development and bring out the capabilities of future graduates through various life skill processes to bring out their...
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