GUWAHATI: Putting to rest all speculations of revival, the two defunct iconic paper mills of Assam - Nagaon Paper Mill and Cachar Paper Mill - will go under the hammer for sale as scrap on June 30, 2021.
The official notification for the bidding process has been released, stating that the auction will be held online on mtsecommerce.com. While the reserve price has been set at Rupees 1,139 crore, the Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) amount has been set at Rs 55 crores, and the minimum incremental bid is Rs. 1 crore.
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in New Delhi ordered the liquidation of the two paper mills under Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited in Assam in May 2019.
The advertisement seeking e-bid was published in leading newspapers of the state by liquidator Kuldeep Verma.
Notably, the Assam government had sought time from NCLT in mid of 2020, for submitting a revival plan, but failed to do so.
The move to privatize the two paper mills also met with a lukewarm response from the investors.
The two paper mills used to produce 2,00,000 tonnes of newsprint in its golden days. But due to capital shortage, both the mills got closed.
Cachar unit in Panchgram ceased to function in October 2015, while the Nagaon mill in Jagiroad stopped operating from March 2017. No salary was paid to the staff of Cachar and Nagaon units since January and March of 2017 respectively.
Both mills were owned by the Central government-controlled Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited (HPCL).
Meanwhile, Assam Congress has urged Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to stop the sale of both the paper mills.
It may be mentioned here that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government within days of coming back to power made its biggest investment of Rs 2000 crore to raise its stakes in the Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) in order to stop it from going to private hands.
