Dharam Godha, the owner of Ashok Paper Mill at Rameshwar Nagar in Darbhanga, on Sunday claimed that production at the factory was expected to start by mid-June.

“Seventy per cent of the work has been completed. About 30 per cent of the machinery has arrived and the rest is on the way,” Godha said.

“Recently, Opposition leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui accused me of stealing decade-old machinery. Such statements cast a shadow on our images not only in Bihar but also in other states where we have our business,” he told The Telegraph.

He added: “Ashok Paper Mill is my company and everyone should have known that before making any comment. The company has no loans or shareholders.”

Sources, however, rubbished Godha’s claims that the factory would start functioning in the next month. “What Godha claims is baseless. No new machineries have come so far. In fact, the old machineries will be sold,” a source said.

The source added that the company has not even paid salaries to its employees for 10 months.