Silchar: A former employee of the defunct Cachar Paper Mill passed away at Silchar Medical College and Hospital on Friday. A total of 133 former employees have dies since the closure of the Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited units in Assam.Tapan Kumar Dey (64), a former worker of the Cachar Paper Mill and a resident of Badarpur Ghat in Cachar district, died after suffering a severe cardiac arrest. He breathed his last at SMCH, said Manobendra Chakraborty, president of the Cachar Paper Project Workers’ Union and the Joint Action Committee of Recognised Unions.
Chakraborty claimed that employees of the closed units have not received salaries or provident fund payments for nearly 110 months. “Every day has become a struggle marked by stress, trauma and loss of dignity. Many workers have exhausted their savings, sold assets and taken loans just to survive,” he said.While state govt has announced humanitarian assistance, including financial aid and medical support, workers’ representatives alleged that the measures came late and were inadequate.
