Silchar, Jan. 22: Altogether 44 part-time workers were taken ill after a chlorine leak at the Hindustan Paper Corporation (HPC) plant at Panchgram, 24km from Silchar, around 7 last evening.

The plant's authorities, however, confirmed that the plant had returned to normal within two hours.

This is the second incident of gas leak in this paper mill, one of the biggest in Asia, in the past 10 years. The workers of the plant had rushed to the site of the incident and helped to repair the 2km pipeline which had sprung the leak, sources said today.

The chief executive officer of the Rs 384-crore paper plant, Suchibrata Choudhury, told The Telegraph today over phone from Panchgram that of the 44, the condition of three bamboo loaders - Jamal Uddin, 52, Alauddin, 45, and Dinesh Das, 54 - suddenly took a turn for the worse late last night.

They were shifted from the plant's hospital to Silchar Medical College and Hospital in Goongur, nearly 7km from here. The other 41 workers are now reportedly recovering, Choudhury added.

He said the bamboo chipping plant of this paper mill is situated near the chlorine-transmitting unit, which is connected to the main paper-producing unit there.

The chlorine-producing unit is linked to the paper-producing plant of this mill, which took seven years to be commissioned, by the pipeline.