Fresh investment for Tuli Paper Mill in the making?

Bangladesh delegation shows interest in setting up paper mill in Nagaland  

Morung Express News 
Dimapur | April 6

The G20's Business Conference  (B20) meant to deliberate on opportunities for multilateral business opportunities in Nagaland has thrown an interesting light specifically by the Bangladesh delegation interested in setting up a paper mill. 

According to Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, the India-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IBCCI) which brought a large business delegation from Bangladesh made a strong case for greater commercial activities across the border. “I briefly talked to the team leader and they said that they were interested in buying pulses and also wanted to start a Paper Mill,” he mentioned during a press conference on April 5. 

At the same time, however, it was not made clear as to whether the Bangladesh delegation were referring to the already existing Tuli Paper Mill or to a fresh investment located elsewhere. Rio did mention that the mill (Tuli) owned and operated by the now defunct, Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited (HPCL) had 'failed miserably' due to “defective machineries” and so a new fresh start needed to be taken. 

Tuli Paper Mill, formally known as the Nagaland Pulp & Paper Company Limited (NPPCL) located in Tzudikong, Mokokchung has been lying in ruins for several decades now with significant portions of its machineries stolen or looted for scrap.  The mill is spread over an area of 700 acres of land which also includes housing quarters and bamboo plantation; and has been leased to the government for a period of 99 years still. Commercial production of paper had only run for a period of 10 years between-1982 to 1992. Despite several futile attempts to revive the mill, HPCL was finally put to the hammer for liquidation in 2019. 

Rio also put across the fact that several issues needed to resolve first including the grievances of the employees and that a meeting was held with the Department (Industries & Commerce) on how to move forward afresh. 

The unpaid salaries and pensions of the employees had also been the core demand of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) which had planned to go on an indefinite strike last year. Comprising members of both the workers’ and pensioners’ unions of NPPCL, its President A Kika Lenda claimed that about 263 employees were still to get their due amounting to about Rs 35 crores till day (from August 2017 onwards).    

For now, the keen interest shown by the delegation from Bangladesh gives a glimmer of hope for the state as it has the potential to generate employment opportunities for the burgeoning number of youths and also for overall economic progress.