| Date: |
05-03-2015 |
| Subject: |
Govt apathy may force closure of Ballarpur mill |
|
Chandrapur: Ballarpur Paper Mill Mazdoor Sabha, the workers union of Ballarpur Paper Mill, has expressed concern over the sick condition of the industry and claimed that over 60-year-old unit faced with threat of closure due to apathy of the government towards providing necessary raw material from local forests.
The workers, led by president of union and former MP Naresh Puglia, staged a day-long sit-in before the district collectorate to flay the government's policy and press for their demands on Wednesday. They demanded immediate hike in import duty on paper and sought supply of raw material (bamboo and soft wood) from local forests in Gadchiroli and Chandrapur.
After the forest department denied the supply of bamboo from Gadchiroli forests, Ballarpur mill is forced to obtain raw material from distant states which has escalated its cost to Rs11,000 per ton. High cost of raw material and stiff competition from overseas paper industries have pushed the mill that provides employment to around 10,000 people at the verge of closure, said Puglia.
He said that overseas paper industries exporting paper to India enjoys 0% import duty. The imported being cheaper than one produced locally, it has destroyed paper industry in the country. "Around 700 small and big paper industries across the country have been closed in recent years. Famous paper mills in Telangana like Kagaznagar mill and APR too have been forced to shutdown following downfall. Hike in import duty on paper and government's help in procuring cheaper raw material can only save the surviving paper mills," Puglia said.
The union forwarded a memorandum to the government through district collector, demanding supply of raw material from forest department or at least providing degraded forest patches to paper mill on lease to take up plantation of soft wood. Puglia sought intervention of state's finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, who is MLA from Ballarpur and union minister of state Hansraj Ahir, MP from Chandrapur, to resolve the problem.
Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com
|