Paper mill workers urge PM to restore coal supply

SILCHAR: In the wake of a ban on coal mining in Meghalaya by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), workers of Cachar Paper Mill, a unit of Hindustan Paper Corporation Ltd (HPCL), have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to save the mill from closure.
Cachar Paper Project Workers' and Employees' Union and Cachar Paper Mill Officers' and Supervisors' Association submitted memorandums to Modi and Union minister of heavy industries and public enterprises Anant Geete on Thursday.The workers said that if supply of coal from neighbouring Meghalaya is not immediately restored, production at the mill in Assam's Hailakandi district, 25km from here, would stop in a month.
The paper mill, the largest heavy industry situated in the southern part of Assam, has been manufacturing writing and printing paper since 1998. About 1,200 permanent workers and lakhs of people are involved with the mill indirectly for their livelihood.
The memorandum stated that recently the All Dimasa Students' Union filed a petition before the National Green Tribunal's principal bench in Delhi against rat hole/unscientific mining of coal in Meghalaya. In response to the petition NGT ordered that on May 19 that unscientific mining be stopped immediately throughout the Meghalaya until further orders.
Subsequently, in a 9 June order, NGT permitted transportation of already extracted coal lying open near mining sites subject to terms and conditions.
The workers said the mill, which has a capacity of producing 1,00,000 tonnes of paper annually, needs 550-600 tonnes of coal per day. Now with only 12,000 million tonnes of coal in stock, the mill can function for only about a month. The mill cannot operate without coal as it is essential to produce steam for cooking bamboo-chip to produce pulp, drying of paper as well as generation of power.
The memorandum also mentioned that the mill at present, has a stock of 90,000 MTG of bamboo worth Rs 35 crore. However, if production is stopped, the bamboo will be damaged causing a huge lose to the mill.
The workers said alternative arrangement for procurement of coal can't be made because the mill is not connected by any broad gauge railway route or motorable highway. The only approach road through Meghalaya cannot be utilized as trucks loaded with coals have been debarred from plying through Meghalaya.