Officials let 1k-tonne paper, 49k-tonne bamboo rot in paper mill, CBI files case

This could be one example of how to guillotine a public sector unit, if one goes by the preliminary findings of the CBI on Cachar Paper Mill in Assam that stopped functioning owing to lack of 'working capital' in October 2015.

At the time of shutting down operations, the mill located in Panchgram had in stock 1,006 tonnes of paper and 49,513 tonnes of bamboo, which in turn could end up in producing 13,099 tonnes of paper, but officials there just left it to rot there without attempting to monetise it.

The CBI has registered a case on March 17 against two senior officials of Hindustan Paper Corporation Ltd, which runs the paper mill, claiming that their inaction has caused a loss of Rs 32.61 crore to the exchequer.

The registration of the FIR against S N Bhattacharya and S K Jain, who were Director (Operations) and Director (Marketing) respectively, in HPCL's Corporate Office in Kolkata at that time and now retired, came after a complaint from Cachar and Nagan Paper Mill Employee's Family Members Convenor Kamal Chakraborty two years ago.

Earlier this month, the CBI had registered a case against HPCL former Chairman-cum-Managing Director MVN Rao, Bhattacharya and others in connection with a Rs-64 crore bamboo purchase scam. According to the CBI, inflated prices were allegedly paid to the Dima Hasao Autonomous Council (DHAC) in Assam in the procurement of bamboo by Cachar Paper Mill.

According to the CBI, it's Anti-Corruption Bureau in Shillong verified the complaint filed by Chakraborty and found that a loss of Rs 32.61 crore has been caused to the exchequer while the complainant pegged the loss at Rs 77.57 crore.

According to the complaint, the mill had a total stock of 1,006 tonnes paper which were ready for sale in October 2015 when the unit shut down its operations. At that time, it claimed, the average price of different quality of paper was Rs 55,000 per tonne.

"If the same would be sold out during that period or before it lost its quality, total value of 1,006 tonnes of paper would have been Rs 5.53 crore. However, higher authorities of HPCL did not make any attempt to sell the said quantity of paper," it said.

Similarly, the company had sourced 49,513 tonnes of bamboo, which were lying at the mill site since 2015 and it could have produced 13,099 tonnes of paper. "Those bamboos were kept without use and have almost got decomposed as the same were lying in the open air. As per information, in order to manufacture one tonne of paper, 3.78 tonnes of bamboo is required," the complaint said adding if the paper was produced, the mill could have earned Rs 72.04 crore.

Media reports said that employees had not received salary for the past at least three years. Another paper mill in Assam, Nagaon Paper Mill in Jagiroad has been non-functional since March 2017.