Cachar Mill once sustained thousands. Now, even staff quarters are gone

It is October 2015. The political climate in Assam is buzzing, and state elections are just months away. The BJP, which has stormed into power at the centre, has received a shot in the arm following Congress leader Himanta Biswa Sarma’s switch to the BJP. The party makes plenty of promises and reviving the Cachar Paper Mill and the Nagaon Paper Mill are among those.

By the start of 2016, Cachar Paper Mill had shut down, while Nagaon Paper Mill continued for another year before shutting down in 2017. The BJP, of course, stormed to power in 2016, dubbed by many as the Modi Wave. 

Sofique Uddin Barbhuiya, 59, still remembers that fateful day of October 20, 2015, when the Cachar paper mill was declared non-functional. Initially, he had thought that “the dark cloud looming over the industry” would perish soon, but it eventually turned out as a shock destined to last for a lifetime.

Located in Panchgram, around 24 km from Silchar, the Cachar paper mill is spread over an area of over 3,000 bighas. The mill, which started commercial production in 1988, exported paper apart from fulfilling paper demand in the country.

Incomes fell over 80%

Once an employee of Cachar paper mill, Barbhuiya now runs a small shop in Hailakandi district’s Algapur. “The mill’s closure was a shock, and it took a long time to come to terms with this reality. Until 2016, I got a salary and then that was also stopped. I somehow managed my house with my provident fund’s money for some years, but things started getting tougher with time. Without any hope or option left, I started a shop (stationery cum sweet shop) in 2023 in Algapur near my home. This shop is my sole source of income and I am somehow running my house with the meagre earnings I make from the shop,” Barbhuiya said.

The mill’s closure devastated families dependent on it for sustenance, with incomes falling over 80%-90% and leaving families with no backups. Barbhuiya felt the impact too. His younger daughter was unable to pursue higher studies because of financial problems. “I have a wife and two daughters – one of them is married now. My younger daughter completed her MSc degree, she wanted to study more, but I was unable to fulfil her wish due to extreme financial problems” he said.

Barbhuiya, who joined the Cachar paper mill in 1987 and worked as a technician at the mill’s mechanical unit, used to earn around Rs. 65,000 per month as salary and now earns about Rs. 5,000 per month. He began working in the mill in 1987.

Parikshit Das (56), who once worked as a supervisor (quality control) at the mill, now runs a photocopy (xerox) shop in Silchar’s Rangirkhari area. “The mill’s closure affected me mentally a lot and I suffered from various health problems for nearly five years (2015-2020). In 2020, I started a photocopy shop. I have my parents and wife at home and my two children (a son and a daughter) live outside Assam for their studies. My father gets a pension while I make some money from my shop. This is how our family has been running for the past few years,” Parikshit said.

Parikshit, who joined the mill in 1990, used to get Rs. 49,000 as salary per month and now he earns around Rs. 9,000 per month from his shop.

“Life used to be great when I worked at the mill. After the mill’s closure, life has only become worse with every passing day,” Parikshit rued. He had joined the mill in 1990.

Another employee of the mill, who did not wish to be named, echoed Barbhuiya saying initially (when the mill was closed), mill employees were expectant that the mill’s functioning would cease temporarily and it would be functional soon, but the hopes of seeing the industry in an operational state again started dying when the government did not take any step to revive it after the 2016 elections. 

“The BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014. In 2016, it came to power in the state too, but even after that, no step was taken to revive the mill although ‘countless’ promises were made about the mill’s revival. That was when the hope of seeing the mill in functional state began dying,” the employee said.

Numerous such stories are there that present sad tales of how the mill’s employees, who used to live a good life some years ago, are struggling to make ends meet.

These also portray how the dream of the mill’s revival died a slow and painful death, shoving the lives of thousands of people (employees and their families) into an uncertain state.

While an unsure future was haunting the mill’s employees after the mill’s closure, problems compounded after their salaries were discontinued in January 2017. They received three months’ salary in 2018 and then a financial relief package in 2021, but that never bailed the employees out of the “troubled waters” they were in due to the severe financial crisis.

As per the unions of the two closed paper mills, at least 124 employees of the two mills have died after the industries ceased functioning, mostly due to stress, trauma and lack of medical treatment despite suffering from various ailments. The majority of the deceased workers were staff of the Cachar paper mill, as per the unions.

Talking to EastMojo, the president of the Joint Action Committee of Recognised Unions of the two paper mills, Manabendra Chakraborty, said the relief package was not the full and final settlement. It was financial help provided to the mills’ staff on humanitarian grounds, but it was not the total settlement, he added.

He said the BJP government had given repeated assurances about remitting the dues (pending salaries and other dues), but it did not fulfil its commitment. Employees of the mills remained hopeful for years that the government would ameliorate the situation of their lives by clearing the dues, but this never happened and all hopes of the employees gradually died with time, Chakraborty said. 

He said they (mill employees) have no faith in the BJP government anymore as they did not pay their salaries despite making countless promises of the same. “We can just hope the government gets some conscience to feel for the employees and their families. Maybe then, it will clear the pending dues for which the employees have been clamouring for years,” he said.

“Many employees have opened shops to run their families while many have been doing odd jobs to make ends meet. Life has been very tough for the mill’s employees in the last few years (after the mill ceased functioning and their salaries were discontinued),” Chakraborty said.

When whether there will be an opportunity for the employees of the mill to be a part of the industry (as announced by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma), he said the mill’s employees, who have their service periods left, should be given jobs in the industry (if it is set up at all). In case of employees, who do not have any service period left, their children should be employed as per their eligibility, Chakraborty said.

Demolishing quarters, erasing memories

In March this year, the government began clearing the mill’s premises by demolishing its staff quarters and other assets. There are nearly 1,000 staff quarters of the Cachar paper mill and so far, many staff quarters along with two schools (one Kendriya Vidyalaya and a primary school), a community centre and a market complex have been razed.

Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had announced during campaign trails in connection with the Lok Sabha election that a big industry will be set up in Panchgram (on the Cachar paper mill’s premises) like the semiconductor plant which is being set up in Jagiroad (on the premises of Nagaon paper mill).

But unlike Chakraborty, some ex-employees still have hope. The general secretary of the Cachar Paper Mill Officers and Supervisors’ Association, Dipak Chandra Nath, said the government has cleared the Nagaon paper mill’s premises by demolishing its assets and handed over to Tata Trusts regarding the setting up of the semiconductor plant there. 

Similarly, it is clearing the Cachar paper mill’s premises and it seems like the government has tied up with some company (like Tata Trusts) for a project in Panchgram. Nothing has been made public regarding the demolition drive being carried out and thus we don’t know what the government is planning, he said.

He said the initiative to clear the mill’s assets is giving positive indications and hopefully, a new dawn of growth and prosperity will arrive for the mill’s employees and their families shortly.

He said the government had verbally committed (during a meeting with the mills’ unions held over the mills’ issue in Guwahati in September 2021) that employees of the mills would be given priority in case of jobs in the government’s future scheme of things regarding the mills and thus the government must respect its commitment and provide jobs to the Cachar paper mill’s staff once it sets up the industry (as announced by the CM), Nath added.

Talking about the demolitions in Panchgram, Manabendra Chakraborty said the government’s intention behind razing the mill’s staff quarters is still unclear. “If they (government) are planning to set up an industry or something like that, staff quarters will be needed. Why are they razing the quarters? They could have been repaired,” Chakraborty said and claimed the staff quarters were seemingly in good condition.

Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC)’s spokesperson Sanjeev Roy claimed CM Himanta’s announcement about the industry in Panchgram was an election gimmick and was intended to woo voters regarding the Lok Sabha polls.

Minister Parimal Suklabaidya, who is the only minister from Barak Valley, spoke about Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s announcement about the big industry in Panchgram and said he is confident that the government will start the work of the mega project (as announced by CM Sarma) soon. The project, once materialised, will give a much-needed fillip to the industrial scenario in this valley, he added.

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