NPC-CPC to be closed: Govt tells RS

There is no hope for revival of Nagaon and Cachar papermills and it has been announced in the Rajya Sabha by Government yesterday.

The Government made it clear that they are following theNational Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) order and close down both the mils. The information was given in a reply to a  question raised by Congress MP Ripun Bora.

This announcement came only week after all nine BJP MPs andAssam Minister Piyush Hazarika meeting Union minister for state Rameswar Telithat the Central government in an attempt to revive the two paper mills.

Union Minister of State for Food Processing Rameswar Telilast week urged Heavy Industries Minister Arvind Ganpat Sawant to reopen PSUfirm Hindustan Paper Corp's two defunct mills in Assam by either PPP route orprivatising them.

HPC's Cachar unit in Panchgram stopped working from October20, 2015, while the Nagaon mill in Jagiroad has stopped functioning on March31, 2017.

No salary was paid to the staff of Cachar and Nagaon unitssince January and March of 2017 respectively.

Teli wrote a joint letter along with Assam Minister of Statefor Health and Family Welfare Pijush Hazarika and all the BJP MPs from thestate.

 But it seems thatUnion Government is unlikely top heed Assam MPs request.

The Centre on Monday reaffirmed that the National CompanyLaw Tribunal (NCLT) has on May 2 ordered liquidation of Hindustan PaperCorporation Limited (HPC) that owns Nagaon and Cachar paper mills in Assam.

In reply to a Rajya Sabha question by Assam Congress MP Ripun Bora, Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Arvind Ganpat Sawant said that the HPC Chairman and Managing Director had filed an appeal in the NCLT against the order of June 13, 2019 of NCLT, but the appeal was dismissed by appellate tribunal.

The HPC's Nagaon Paper Mill, Jagiroad and Cachar Paper Mill,Panchgram are presently non-operational. The NCLT through an order directedinitiation of corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) under theInsolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), 2016 against the HPC.

Following the NCLT order, as per the provisions of IBC, theHPC board of directors stands suspended and a resolution professional (RP) anda committee of creditors have been appointed for the HPC. Accordingly, theBoard for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) has also beendissolved, while all pending cases before the BIFR stand abated.