The Assam government on Wednesday said that it will acquire the assets of two defunct mills of the Hindustan Paper Corporation in the state. The government will provide a relief package of Rs 570 crore for those who lost their jobs due to closure of the mills, PTI reported.

“Finally reached an agreement with the workers and employees of Hindustan Paper Corporation to resolve long pending issues of their salaries and dues,” Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma said in a tweet.

The Cachar Paper Mill at Panchgram in Hailakandi district has not been operating since October 2015, whereas the Nagaon Paper Mill at Jagiroad in Morigaon district has been shut since March 2017.

After the mills stopped operations, the employees protested on several occasions and moved courts seeking to revive the facilities and clear their pending dues. As many as 95 employees have died due to poor health since the mills shut down. At least three employees have died by suicide.

On Wednesday, Sarma said that the mills will not be revived, but the premises of the two factories will be used for setting up other industrial units, The Telegraph reported.

“The Rs 570 crore package will take care of 28 months’ salary [of employees] and other dues but the government has assured it will not prejudice the claims of workers pending in courts,” he said, according to PTI.

The Assam government will now approach the National Company Law Tribunal to get clearance to take over all assets of the mills. The mills’ employee organisations will ensure that the houses, premises, buildings and other assets are handed over without any problems.

The state government also said that it will conduct a special recruitment drive for the erstwhile mills’ employees through which it will provide employment to 100 officers in the industrial units that will be set up. The new post and pay scale of the employees will be equivalent to those in their previous jobs.

The government will also facilitate employment for those workers who could not complete their services due to the closure of the mills. They will be employed on priority at the industries that come up on the land of the paper mills.

Doctors and other paramedical staff from the mills’ health facilities will be given permanent government jobs.

The teachers from the Kendriya Vidyalaya schools at the mills’ premises will be given salary for two years. The students in these schools will be given admissions to other Kendriya Vidyalaya schools of their choice.