Ashok Paper Mills : lingering twilight

Ashok Paper Mills : lingering twilight

— Amal Kumar Das

There was a time when Ashok Paper Mills of Jogighopa now in present Bongaigaon district, by virtue of its quality production occupied the centrestage of paper market at the national level. Its high quality of printing and writing papers raised the eyebrows of paper makers and APM paper became the most sought after nationally, and in particular in the metropolitan markets of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. Men, machineries and above all, the raw material-cellulous bamboos of Assam- all combined to making it a success story.The din and bustle associated with the erection, fabrication and installation of machinery components, the excitement and enthusiasm of the persons engaged in the enchanting mill site, where bamboos were crushed, made into pulp and rolled out as paper, unfortunately enacted a repeat history of closure within fifteen years from its construction stage at Jogighopa and less than a decade from its going into production. The mill came to a halt by about 1982, and although some efforts were made later for restarting operation with arrangement with some Hyderabad based private parties that did not bear fruit. Rumour was there that the arrangement when the mill was transferred to the party by way of an agreement was not transparent. For a few months or so, the mill was on steam, but could not sustain. Subsequent to that, another private party, mainly Bongaigaon based, stepped into the Mill, but nothing was visible and the Mill has remained moribund for more than a decade.APM has a history. Originally the company was promoted by Maharaja of Darbhanga and Baidyanath Ayurved Bhawan with financial assistance of Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) and United Bank of India (UBI). The company was registered on August 29,1957. Because of various problems, when the erection and installation were halfdone, the project came to a standstill. The problem was compounded by the death of the Maharaja the main promoter in 1962. Subsequently the company went into liquidation in 1967. Although efforts were made to involve big business houses, very few were willing and none came forward to revive the “dead mill”.On the other hand, the government of Assam had been trying to set up paper mills because of plenty of bamboos, the main raw material for production of paper in the State. But, government efforts received setback because investment was larger than its plan allocation. In the seventies, it was seen that even a hundred tonne per day capacity of a paper mill needed an investment of Rs 20 crore. At a time when the plan allocations for industries of Assam was Rs 4 crore in the 3rd Plan and Rs. 11 crore in the 4th plan, it was simply an impossibility on the part of the government to venture into setting up of paper mill with limited resources. It was at that time, when the mill at Rameswarnagar went into liquidation, representatives of IFCI and UBI approached Chief Minister BP Chaliha who had been looking for such opportunities for long. BP Chaliha, Chief Minister evinced keen interest in the proposal and felt as if Assam was on the threshold of getting a paper mill. The Chief Minister called AD Adhikari, the ebullient Director of Industries and entrusted the responsibility to study the proposal and to come out with a rehabilitation scheme, if possible. It was AD Adhikari who did the entire exercise of rehabilitating the project. A scheme was drawn that envisaged establishment of two units of a paper mill 400 miles apart– one at Jogighopa with 120 tonne of pulp and 90 tonnes of paper per day production capacity, and, the other, at the original site of Rameswarnagar of Bihar with 45 tonne per day of speciality paper based on dried pulp from Assam unit. The annual capacity of paper production at Jogighopa unit was 27,000 tonne and 13,500 tonne at Rameswarnagar– both combined stood at 40,500 tonne per year.The project was estimated at a cost of Rs 33 crore where the participation of the government of Assam by way of share holding was Rs 2.58 crore and that of Bihar’s was Rs 1.22 crore and IDBI’s Rs 2 crore. The balance amount of roughly Rs 26 crore was loan component mainly form financial institutions, like IDBI, IFCI, LIC, ICICI and UBI.Thus the company that went into liquidation in 1967 was revived on 4.2.1970. Without losing time construction works were set into motion at Jogighopa. Land was acquired. Amid unprecedent enthusiasm of people, then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi laid the foundation stone on October 3, 1970 at village Chedamari of Jogighopa. The shifting of machineries from Bihar to Assam started but with problem. It created political emotion. Local people of Bihar resisted the attempt. However, the timely handling of the government of Bihar removed the hurdle. Inspite of opposition, machineries started coming to Jogighopa. The erection and installation of machineries at Rameswarnagar and Jogighopa were carried out with commendable success. The long awaited day for which the people of Bihar and Assam had been dreaming, came and Bihar unit that went once into liquidation produced paper on May 30, 1975. Assam too did not lag behind and produced paper on December 18 in the same year. The commercial production at Jogighopa commenced on July 1, in 1976. Paper was despatched from August, the same year.Assam certainly was eager to have a paper mill. The state had enormous stock of raw material, without a paper mill. But the state didnot have the technical hands. Along with beginning of construction work, the state government at the initiative of AD. Adhikari planned to train up local educated youths with financial support from the government. APM offered direct employment to 1600 at Jogighopa unit alone, where, local employment was as high as 85 per cent which, for a new industry was an outstanding achievement. Ashok Paper Mills as is evident, not only produced paper from bamboos of Assam, APM also built up a pool of human resources.Persons who didnot know even how to switch off an electrical bulb, became industrial workers and local persons who did not move outside, became reputed contractors and prosperous suppliers. APM township pulsated with a new life with industrial, commercial, social and cultural activities. Thus a paper mill that was ‘dead’ in 1967 was brought to life in 1970, started commercial production in 1976. Unfortunately the mill inspite of its name and fame, was actually in production only for a period of five years from 1976 to 1980 with highest production with 63 per cent capacity utilisation in 1978. The performance nosedived in 1981 when gradually it lost its motion and came to a halt.But then, a mill that received tremendous goodwill of people, and products earned name and fame nationally, what led APM to the dying stage. Is it possible to revive the mill again? And in that case, how the government is to act, and, what ought to be the response of the public and the political parties, youth and student forums? In my opinion, all hopes are not lost. It will require some indepth discussion that may pave the way to revive the mill, with which the people of Assam were so intimately and emotionally associated with.

Source: Assam Tribune Editorial