The Nagaon paper mill

Nov. 24: The Nagaon Paper Mill of Hindustan Paper Corporation will open its gates three years after it shut down following law and order and supply hurdles, armed with a contract to ensure that at least insufficient raw material is not a hindrance.

A senior official of Nagaon paper mill said after several rounds of meetings with Karbi Anglong District Autonomous Council authorities, they signed an agreement in the last week of October, charting out in detail the rates at which bamboo will be bought.

The pact will benefit the district as much as the paper industry.

Karbi Anglong District Autonomous Council chief executive member Mangal Singh Engti said according to the agreement, the rate of a 100-pack bamboo will be Rs 180, a Rs 45 rise from the rate at which the district sold it to the mill three year ago.

It was also agreed that Rs 10 would be increased per hundred bamboo after two years.

“Not only have they decided to increase the rates, the corporation has also agreed to give Rs 25 lakh as one-time assistance to the council, which is against our compensation demand for the paper industries’ failure to utilise the hill district’s bamboo resources since October 2005,” Engti said.

“Our bamboo resources have remain unutilised since last three years. Besides, the scourge of bamboo flowering forced us the clear the forests last year. We hope the new agreement will help us tap our natural resources,” said executive member (in charge of forest) Hemari Teron.

Karbi Anglong has 1011.26 square km of reserve forest.

“Our annual requirement is 405,000 tonnes of bamboo. Till now we have mainly been dependent on Upper Assam and north Assam zones for raw material. This pact will help us procure bamboo closer home,” said Hindustan Paper Corporation deputy general manager (forest) Anil Kumar Rajkhowa.

He said the paper corporation would buy 186,000 tonnes of bamboo now, while the hill district council is ready with a stock of 313,000 tonnes.

“If production and sales pick up, we will increase the volume so that our mill never faces a material crisis and the district council gets a genuine and faithful buyer,” he said.