The
executive Summary of the fact finding report into Police firing leading to the
death of a young worker at Ashok Paper Mill (APM), Darbhanga (Bihar)
In
India, it is a well-known fact that the British colonizers used all the means
including force and fraud to destroy the indigenous craft industries,
particularly textile that rendered millions “free” from their means of labour.
History does not repeat itself, only echoes. The disturbing echoes of colonial
plunder in the present era of the Corporate led neo-liberalism, are very
alarming. The existing industries, particularly the public sector enterprises,
are being ruined in the most brutal way to facilitate the profit making by the
greedy capitalists at the cost of the workers and the people. In some cases it
has assumed the form of simple loot wherein a greedy capitalist simply devours
the assets of a company and defrauds the public banks obviously in connivance
with the bureaucrat mandarins of the Industry Ministry at the Centre and the
state. The saga of the Ashok Paper Mill, Darbhanga, is a glaring example of
such loot and plunders without even beginning of the process of production.
Attempts to sop this plunder by the workers and their family members resulted
in a blood bath on November 10, 2012 leading to the death of Sushil Shah, a 24
year young man, newly married and the sole bread earner of the family. His
father is a employee of the mill.
Established
in 1958 by Maharaja of Darbhanga and taken over the central government in 1970,
as a joint venture of Assam, Bihar and Central Government with the IDBI as a
key financier, Ashok Paper Mill, known for its high quality fine paper, has
been in news due to conflict between workers and Noveau Capital &
Finance Limited (NCFL) owned by Mr Dharm Godha and the workers and local
people. The mill is located on over 400 acres of agricultural land, in the
vicinity of the river Bagmati. The land was acquired from the peasants with the
promises of jobs and prospects of the development. Owing to mismanagement and
corruption, its performance started declining since 1978 and the production was
suspended in 1982. While functioning, the Mill employed nearly 1200 workers,
almost all local.
In 1988 it was referred to the BIFR and on
November 15, 1989 an agreement was reached that Bihar Governments would take
over the unit with Central Government’s financial and technical assistance. On
November 15, 1991, Supreme Court also ordered the implementation of the
agreement. But the central government had started being guide in policy matters
by the panacea of privatization. In 1995 the Supreme Court ordered the
Secretary Industry and Development to assess the possibility of the revival of
APM. He submitted a plan for revival through privatization in two phases consistent
with the rights of workers, which was accepted Supreme Court in July,
1996. In 1997 the order was finalized
and APM was privatized under an “agreement” with Noveau Capital & Finance
Limited owned by Mr Dharm Godha for the sum of Rs. 6 crore for acquiring the
shares of the Governments of Bihar and Assam to be paid in 16 interest free
instalments. Our team found out that
till 2012 only 2 instalments were paid by Godha, no dues were paid to the
workers while during the same period NC&FL raised more than 30 crore from
public finance institutions without having invested any money into the Mill.
Under the scheme the NC&FL was supposed to make the mill operational within
18 months of the signing of the agreement.In 1997 the order was finalized and
APM was privatized under an “agreement” to be run by Noveau Capital &
Finance Limited owned by Mr. Dharm Godha for the sum of Rs. 6 crore for
acquiring the shares of the Governments of Bihar and Assam to be paid in 16
interest free instalments. Our team
found out that till 2012 only 2 instalments of the 6 crore due to the
government were paid by Godha, no dues were paid to the workers while during
the same period NC&FL raised more than 30 crore from public finance
institutions without having invested any money into the Mill. Under the scheme
the NC&FL would make the mill operational within 18 months of the signing
of the agreement in the first phase.
The
38 point scheme of the revival approved by the Supreme Court include the
absorption of the total available work force of the mill and prohibition on the
exit of any asset of the mill from the premises except the machinery parts for
repair. In disdainful violation of the Supreme Court instructions in the
scheme, the first phase could never take off in real sense. However, in
November 1998, Mr Godha decided to have a drama of a trial run of the factory
and the certification enabled Mr Godha to secure loans from United Bank of
India of Rs. 805 Lakhs as “working capital”.
It
was clear from the very beginning that Godha was not interested in running the
factory and he soon started taking out parts and machinery from the factory
despite the workers union's attempts to prevent the same. This theft continued
under severe and continuous repression by the police posted in the Ashok Paper
Mills Police Station. Under the governmental patronage and police protection, Mr
Godha and his managers surreptitiously shipped out of the factory equipment and
machinery worth crores. Under the pressure from the Ashok Paper Mill Kamgar
Union, a Vigilance Inquiry was ordered by Bihar Govt. against him in 2003. Mr
Dharm Godha declared a lock out on Nov 11 2003 and disappeared. The Begusarai
labour court declared the lockout to be illegal and directed the full payment
of wages to all the workers. Mr Godha disappeared from the scene to resurface
again in 2011 soon after the NDA government’s returning to power in Bihar. Ever
since Mr. Godha with his henchmen are continuing the plunder of the assets of
the mill including 2500 tress in the premises; the rail tracks; one and half a
kilometre drainage pipe joining Bagmati River; 650 HP motor; electricity cables
and so on under one or the other pretext, notwithstanding the fact that there
is a Police Station within the Mill compound. The Workers’ protracted
resistance against this smuggling out of the assets culminated into the tragic
killing of a young and bullet injuries to 2 others in the shoot out by the
Police and the private armed guards of Mr Godha.
Tension
had been building in the mill area for the last two months between Mr Gotha’s
men, smuggling out Mill’s assets and the workers trying to stop this theft.
Four duty magistrates were posted there. On the complaints of the trade unions,
for the spot survey District Magistrate had made an assessment visit to the
mill and found that the machineries have been dismantled and reduced to scrap.
The villagers and workers had formed vigilance teams to stop the theft by Mr Godha.
On Nov 7 and 8 Mr Godha had sent 5 trucks and his men under the excuse of
wanting to transport paper lying within the factory premises. The police
hatched a devious scheme to remove the workers from the spot so that Mr Godha
could continue his nefarious activities. The workers sensed some foul play and
insisted on inspecting these trucks which were leaving the factory premises
which was met with brute force by the police itself. On November 8, the Station
House Officer APM Thana took 6 workers to the SDO’s office and subsequently to
the DSP Lahariya Sarai. While these people were being illegally detained at the
DSP's office, the few workers left at the spot were unable to stop the trucks
carrying extremely valuable sheesham trees and the equipment from the factory.
While resisting they were attacked by the private guards and the police who
forcibly cleared the way for the trucks to pass through.
On
the 10th of November, when Godha, present there with Police and his
own guards, was trying to take the trucks out, villagers insisted on checking
the trucks and at the behest of Mr Godha the policemen and Godha’s armed guards
fired without any warning in which Sushil Sah, son of late Baso Sah who was an
employee of the Mill, was shot in the temple died and Jay Kumar (relative of an
employee) and Dukhi Yadav survived the bullet injuries. According to the SSP,
Garima Malik, on the evening of the 10 November 2012, she got a request from
the APM Thana for more force, as some workers were agitated and gathered at the
factory, so she sent the force from neighbouring police Stations. According to
her no Police Station had taken the responsibility of the firing. It is to be
noted that the firing was not ordered by any competent authority or by the
magistrates deputed there. The Police fired on its own, “in self-defence”,
according to the DGP Bihar as quoted in the newspapers.
After
conclusion of our visit we were quite intrigued and disturbed by certain
questions having serious implication not only for de-industrialization of Ashok
Paper Mill that overtly - covertly serves the interests of the giant
multinational paper corporates under the dominance of global imperialist capital,
but also is indicative of a dangerous trend that has serious repercussions for
Indian democracy and economy. The firing on 10th
November 2012 was clearly without any provocation and without any warning. The
workers were unarmed and orders of firing were not given by any competent
authority. It is obviously to help Mr. Godha in his nefarious design to
unlawfully rob the property and assets of Ashok Paper Mill that the police and
the private armed men of Mr. Godha fired upon the people. This firing shows
total wanton disregard for human lives to serve illegal interests of a conman.
We demand:
I.
Cases of murder
should be lodged against Mr. Dharam Godha, policemen and private security
guards who fired upon the peaceful workers and their kinsmen on November 2012.
II.
A Judicial Enquiry by
a sitting Judge of Patna High Court should be held into the incident of firing without proper authority and role of
different authorities in violations of different laws by Dharam Godha.
III.
Though there cannot
be any compensation for a young life, the slain worker being the lone bread
winner of the family, we demand from Bihar government the payment of appropriate
compensation to the family of the martyred worker. The injured also must be
paid adequate compensations.
IV.
Workers should be
paid all dues as per the Scheme and all
other benefits that would have
accrued to them in this period. Decision of Begusarai Labour Court and EPF
Dept. should be implemented.
V.
A CBI enquiry should
be ordered to probe the criminal conspiracy behind looting the property of
Ashok Paper Mill by Dharam Godha and the connivance of the powers that be which
defeated and undermined the very Scheme approved by the Supreme Court. Various
aspects of this criminal conspiracy regarding removal of machines of Ashok
Paper Mill and properties of the Mill against the express provision of the
Scheme, tempering with Monitoring Committee appointed by the Supreme Court
removing Shri Umadhar Singh from it to facilitate this nefarious design,
fraudulent nature of various certificates for obtaining bank loans and
encouragement to Dharam Godha to flout the laws, need proper investigation.
VI.
As the Supreme Court
approved Scheme (rehabilitation through privatization) has collapsed due to
criminal designs of Mr. Dharam Godha and connivance of officials of the Central
and State govts. Ashok Paper Mill should be taken over by Bihar state govt. and
Central Govt. should provide financial and technical assistance. In brief, the
agreement reached before the BIFR in 1989 should be implemented without loss of
time.
VII.
The
Bihar Government must furnish explanations why it allowed the disdainful
violations of Supreme Court approved scheme and an absconder like Mr Godha to
defraud public property. It also owes an explanation to people as to why the
Police fired to kill on the orders of Mr Godha without any instructions from a
competent magistrate?
VIII.
Governments
of Bihar and India must ensure replacement of the stolen machineries and other
assets by Mr Godha and punitive compensation for felling and selling the
trees.
N. Bhattacharya
Ish Mishra
Sachin Kabir
Ish Mishra
Sachin Kabir
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