Guwahati, June 10 (TIWN) The protests and appeal against the sale of two paper mills owned by the government-run Hindustan Paper Corporation Ltd (HPCL) has been mounting rapidly in the BJP-ruled Assam.

The main Opposition Congress, Raijor Dal led by jailed MLA Akhil Gogoi, Assam Jatiya Parishad, the Joint Action Committee of Recognised Unions (JACRU) and various other organisations and individuals have been urging the Centre as well as the Assam government to stop the sale of the two defunct paper mills owned by the HPCL.  In separate letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam Congress President Ripun Bora said that a suitable revival package can be prepared to protect the two paper mills and the employees as the Kerala government took over Hisdustan News Print Ltd, a subsidiary unit of HPCL.  Bora, a Rajya Sabha member, in his letter to PM said : "I think it is not necessary to remind you about your repeated commitment in many occasions of election campaigning meetings while you visited Assam during 2014, 2016, 2019 and even 2021 to revive the two paper mills by giving special economic packages." 

Production at the HPCL's Cachar Paper Mill (CPM) in Hailakandi district closed on October 20, 2015 while the Nagaon Paper Mill (NPM) at Jagiroad in Morigaon has remained shut since March 13, 2017. Over 2,500 employees of both have not received salaries for over four years.