10k workers of Assam’s defunct Cachar Paper Mill cry for help, BJP promises revival

To revive the paper mill has now become an election issue in the Barak Valley region and many are now hoping that the new government will do something for it.

Saidur Rahman, 50, a resident of Panchgram area in Assam’s Hailakandi district, along with his family of 11 is fighting for survival. Until 2017, Rahman was employed at the Cachar Paper Mill, located in the Panchgram area under Algapur Assembly constituency of the Barak Valley region, but now he is working as a daily wage labourer to help his family survive. Cachar Paper Mill was one of biggest industries in south Assam and its business spread out to Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, and Tripura. The paper mill was shut in 2017 and more than 10,000 people who were directly engaged there became jobless.