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Kota Kinabalu: The State Government has taken actions out of compassion to help the plight of former Sabah Forest Industries (SFI) workers since 2019 and during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister Datuk Abidin Madingkir said this included payment of their salaries and Employee Provident Fund (EPF) contributions, with the latest being payment of some RM798,000 on electricity bills incurred by the former SFI workers.

“While the State Government empathises with their plight, it is not sustainable for the Government to solve their predicament in the long run. The workers have been laid off by their former employer, India-based pulp and paper manufacturer Ballarpur Industries Ltd, which has been in receivership since 2017.

“Pending the reactivation of the mill by a new concessionaire, the former workers have been advised to look at the matter realistically, to move on and to seek alternative employment,” he said in a statement, Monday. Abidin said the State Government had imposed a conditional requirement for the new concessionaire to set up operations within two years. “The former workers may apply to work in the new company,” he said. The Sipitang District Officer has been directed to engage with and to update the former SFI workers, he added.