Bamboo flowering leaves mill starving

June 30: The flowering of bamboo groves in Mizoram has raised fears of a sharp dip in output at the Hindustan Paper Corporation Ltd, which is just back on its feet after a blaze.

After lying defunct for nearly a month following a fire at its digester machine room, the paper mill at Panchgram became operational last week.

But chief executive officer Mohan Jha’s pressing concern now is the shrinking supply of raw materials, which could land the Rs 387-crore enterprise in trouble again.

The paper mill with a capacity of 1 lakh tonne annual output, gets its supply mainly from North Cachar Hills and Mizoram.

With the once-in-50-years phenomenon of bamboo flowering destroying groves, the Panchgram paper mill cannot hope for a steady supply for the next few months.

“The little stock left in Mizoram cannot be transported to Panchgram through National Highway 53 because of the pitiable condition of the roads leading to the highway,” Jha said.

Adding to his woes is the failure of bamboo suppliers in the Barak Valley to ensure regular supply of bamboo stock from Cachar and Tripura.

Jha is now hoping that a good monsoon will feed the rivers in Mizoram and facilitate transportation through the waterways.

Union heavy industries and public enterprises minister Sontosh Mohan Dev, too, is worried over the condition of HPC’s Panchgram plant.

On June 20, the legislator from Cachar held a meeting at his Delhi office to end the stalemate at the Panchgram unit of the mill.

Top officials of the HPC and the executive councillors of the North Cachar Autonomous District Council attended the brainstorming exercise in Delhi’s Yodyag Bhavan.

SOURCE: TELEGRAPH INDIA

Cachar Paper Mill crisis

Gogoi to take up issue with Governor, NCHAC

By our Staff ReporterGUWAHATI, June 28: Asom Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi will initiate discussion with the Governor and the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council (NCHAC) soon to mitigate the crisis being faced by the Cachar Paper Mill at Panchgram due to shortage of raw materials. An assurance in this regard has been given by the Chief Minister to the employees’ and officers’ associations of the mill who met Gogoi here today.NC Hills is the major source of green bamboo used in the mill as raw materials. A discussion was held with the Chief Minister at his office chamber at the State Secretariat here today on the pathetic plight of the mill, said Lalit Raj, general secretary of the Cachar Paper Project Workers’ and Employees’ Union (CPPWEU), while talking to The Sentinel.The meeting was attended by Excise and Border Area Development Minister Gautam Roy, Algapur MLA Rahul Roy, Parliamentary Secretary in-charge of Finance Ajit Singh and Deputy General Manger (Forest) of the Paper Mill HN Baruah. CPPWEU president Prasanta Ranjan Deb, its vice-president Ranadhir Deb, Cachar Paper Mill Officers’ and Supervisors’ Association vice-president Ashis Kumar Mazumdar and its general secretary Dipak Chandra Nath were also present at the meeting.Both the unions, in a joint memorandum, informed Gogoi that though the NCHAC had entered into an agreement with the Hindustan Paper Corporation (HPC) on October 11, 2006 to supply 1.80 lakh metric tonnes of bamboo to the mill annually, it failed to fulfil the agreement due to “horse-trading” by a contractor — RS Gandhi — who took NC Hills forest on lease for 20 years.The Chief Minister has taken the matter very seriously and suggested to the mill authorities to quash the agreement with the erstwhile Congress-led NCHAC, if necessary, said the union leaders. The union representatives attributed various reasons to the short supply of raw materials, and some of the reasons are militancy, non-availability of railway rakes, interference of “influential persons” and poor road connectivity.The Chief Minister assured the delegation of taking up the matter with the NF Railway authorities so as to ensure availability of railway rakes for smooth supply of bamboo from NC Hills, the union sources said. Apart from procuring bamboo from Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura and Meghalaya, the Chief Minister suggested the mill authorities to utilize waste wood as an alternative to bamboo.Though the production of the mill resumed on June 25, only one of the two units of the mill is operational causing a loss to the tune of Rs 20 lakh a day, union sources said. The capacity of the mill is around 300 metric tonnes a day (150MTX2). It is hard to run the mill in full capacity unless supply of bamboo from the NC Hills is resumed, the unions told Gogoi. The Chief Minister assured the delegation of visiting the mill very soon. source: sentinel assam

Condition of Cachar paper mill evokes Centre’s concern

By A City Correspondent GUWAHATI, June 25 – New Delhi has taken serious note of the issue of inadequate supply of raw materials to the Cachar Paper Mill at Panchgram, which has led to a complete standstill in functioning.This mill, the only potential industry in the Barak Valley has been providing livelihood to thousands of people both directly and indirectly.The Ministry of Heavy Industry has discussed the issue with representatives of the concerned parties, including the NC Hills Autonomous Council. It may be mentioned here that the hills district is a major supplier of green bamboo, the raw material for the mill. The Union Minister of Heavy Industry Santosh Mohon Dev has requested the NC Hills Autonomous Council to look into the matter of raw material supply to ensure continuous flow of green bamboo. The Kagaj Kal Bachao Committee (KKBC), a conglomerate of as many as 15 organisations has informed that the production in the Cachar Paper Mill, a unit of the Hindustan Paper Corporation Ltd (HPC) has been stalled since June 7 due to lack of the required green bamboo. In protest against the unconcerned attitude of the Government, the KKBC had blocked the National Highway on June 17, demanding immediate corrective measure to bring the mill back to its previous status.The KKBC has been demanding necessary steps to make the sick mill profitable, removal of alleged political interference into the mill’s affairs and disciplinary action against the contractors who failed to supply the bamboo as per the contract.However, the NC Hills Autonomous Council on being contacted said that the prevailing circumstances had prevented the council to concentrate on matters like supply of bamboo to the mill. “We will look into the matter and do our best to ensure continuous flow of bamboo to the mill,” said Debojit Thaosen, a member of the council who was present at the discussion with the union minister.