Gauhati High Court will give its order on January 9 in connection with a petition filed by the unions of the two paper mills in Assam seeking clearance of Rs 90 crore sanctioned in Parliament in 2018 for payment of the workers’ pending salaries.

Cachar Paper Mill at Panchgram in Hailakandi district and Nagaon Paper Mill at Jagiroad in Morigaon district have been lying non-functional since October 2015 and March 2017 respectively and their workers have not received salaries for the past 35 and 33 months. According to the mills’ unions, at least 60 workers have died mainly because of destitution, trauma and lack of medical treatment after the mills became non-functional.

The general secretary of Cachar Paper Mill Officers’ and Supervisors’ Association, Dipak Chandra Nath, told The Telegraph on Monday that a petition was filed in the high court against the Union government, Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited, its two units Cachar paper mill and Nagaon paper mill, and the HPCL’s liquidator at the end of August this year, seeking clearance of all the dues of the mills’ workers and their future job security. The mills’ unions had made an interim prayer for the release of Rs 90 crore, which was sanctioned in 2018 for payment of the workers' salaries.

Nath said all the parties, except the Union government, filed their affidavits on November 29. The high court held a hearing on December 18. The Centre’s advocate said they were to submit affidavits on December 12 but could not because of Internet shutdown in Assam and would now do so on January 3. The court will give its order on January 9, he added.

Nath said the mill workers and their families have been suffering for the past three years because of non-payment of salaries and the government should treat the matter on a priority basis and remit all the dues. He hoped the court would take them out of “troubled waters”.

The president of the Joint Action Committee of Recognised Unions, Manabendra Chakraborty, at a news conference in Guwahati, urged the citizens of Assam not to forget the two ailing mills in the haze of violence across the state over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. He alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and many other BJP leaders had “betrayed” the people of Assam by not fulfilling their promise of reviving the industrial units and warned the people against trusting them. He vowed to continue the crusade for the mills’ revival and remittance of salaries.

Karimganj North MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha told The Telegraph on Monday that the Modi government had made tall promises on industrial development but several industries have been shut after the BJP came to

power. He said many workers have died since the mills ceased functioning but instead of taking steps to pay their salaries, the government is silently watching the “death show”.