Assam CM Tarun Gogoi meets Industry Minister Anand Sharma in New Delhi
By ANIMonday, October 18, 2010
NEW DELHI - Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi met Union Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, here on Monday.
They discussed the revival of Ashok Paper Mills at Jogighopa in Assam, which was functioning as a Central run unit.
The management of the mills ever since its inception as a private enterprise had witnessed numerous controversies. The Central Government had to intervene and take over the management of the mills after the unit incurred losses of rupees 1.52 crores due to lack of monitoring and control of the activities of the lessee.
“Mainly we have two teams and one is Ashok Paper Mills in Assam. During the regime of Rajiv Gandhi there was an agreement with the Assam Paper Mills. But later it was not functioning. So, now we want to revive it,” said Gogoi.
The latest bottleneck faced by the unit relates to the need for green signal from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.
Production operations at Ashok Paper Mill have remained suspended for the past two decades.
Gogoi said that the state-owned Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited is interested in setting up the paper mill where Ashok Paper Mills existed and he wants to remove all the hurdles, so that the unit starts functioning again, and provide employment to the people of the State.
He also mentioned that the topic of setting up National Institute of Design (NID) at Jorhat in Assam to cater to the academic pursuits of students with creative talent of the North Eastern states was also discussed.
“We want the Ministry’s (Commerce and Industry) help regarding capital subsidy and equity in the revival of the paper mill. Anand Sharma has given us assurance that whatever is possible, will be done. The other issue is of NID (National Institute of Design); and now they have agreed to setup an NID at Jorhat,” said Gogoi.
The setting up of a National Institute of Design in Assam is expected to lend a fillip to the aspirations of the youth of the Seven Sisters of the North East - Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura as well as the Sikkim that is reckoned as a part of this region. (ANI)
