Plans afoot to revive Bhadravati-based Mysore Paper Mills through privatisation route

Industries minister M B Patil on Thursday said that the state government is evaluating the possibility of reviving the defunct Bhadravati-based Mysore Paper Mills, which may include privatisation of the state-run paper factory. 

After chairing a high-level meeting with Bhadravati Congress MLA B K Sangamesh here, Patil in a statement said that he has directed Chief Secretary Vandita Sharma to fix a meeting to find the solution to long-standing issues concerning the MPM.

Patil emphasised that the cooperation of the finance department was necessary to deal with the present burden. He added that privatisation will be considered after conducting a meeting with officials.

The MPM, which was the dream project of Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar and Sir M Visvesvaraya, now stands at a loss of Rs 1,482 crore and its pending electricity bill runs to the tune of Rs 229 crore.  

“Although the state government provided Rs 850 crore to MPM as financial aid in the form of loan since 2010 but the revival of this unit has remained on papers,” the minister pointed out and therefore, it is need of the hour to ensure that officials concerned need to evaluate the possibility of reviving this unit.

A total of 23,000 hectares of forest and non-forest land is under MPM’s jurisdiction where currently acacia, eucalyptus, and bamboo are grown, Patil also directed the officials to closely examine whether the eucalyptus can be allowed to grow in case if it is leased out as growing this tree is banned in the state.

The minister claimed that the employees of MPM are being provided placements in various state-run organisations/corporations/boards while some of its employees have already opted for voluntary retirement.

“We also need to find a solution to increase the wages of about 250 forest watchers who are working on a casual basis,”  he remarked.