Shimla :Former Additional Director General of Polic (ADGP), BS Thind, who at one point was the MD of Gumma Carton factory, has termed the recent sale of the factory machinery as a sellout of states interests.
In a communiqué Thind said, “by selling this plant and machinery for a paltry sum of Rs 1 Crore, the authorities have caused a loss of about Rs 20 Crores.
Holding chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and horticulture minister Narinder Bragta responsible for the sale of expensive machinery as scrap, Thind cited his term as MD of the PSU from 1993 to 1998 and said that in UK similar plant has a shelf life of 50 years.
By spending about Rs 2 Cr, the plant would have become functional and could have earned profits upto Rs 100 Crores per annum for the corporation, he said.
He added that the claim of the government that the plant was not viable is proved false by the rising demand for carton boxes for fruit packaging purposes
Due to the state of art technology, the carton manufactured by these machines installed at Pragati Nagar was far superior to the cartons that are being manufactured by the private corrugators in Himachal Pradesh as well as outside the State.
Moreover, the private corrugators have been overcharging for their inferior quality of cartons because the State owned plant had stopped production of cartons.
The government recently sold the plant machinery at the loss making undertaking. Farmer of Himachal Kishan Sabha who have agitating the matter, having written to the Himachal High Court seeking a CAG probe into the sale of the plant and machinery of the carton factory.
Set up in the early 1990’s the carton factory was instrumental in saving precious forest cover by encouraging a switch from wooden boxes to corrugation carton boxes for fruit packaging purposed to the growing apple producing belt of the state.
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads a team of media professionals at Hill Post.
Spanning a career of over two decades in mass communication, as a Documentary Filmmaker, TV journalist, Print Media journalist and with Online & Social Media, he brings with him a vast experience. He lives in Shimla.
