Friday, 17 May, 2024
By: Yash Gupte
According to several reports, the actual number of death of workers in mines is much higher as most of the deaths go unreported. Image Source: IANS
The stone quarry, which is located on a hill about 160 km from Aizawl and is operational since 2020 in Maudarh village in Hnahthial district, collapsed with over 20 labourers working at the site.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has taken suo-moto cognizance of the November 14 stone quarry collapse in Mizoram that killed 11 workers. The NGT has also asked the officials of the Mizoram Pollution Control Board, the State Directorate of Disaster Management and the local administration to appear before it on November 28. The stone quarry, which is located on a hill about 160 km from Aizawl and is operational since 2020 in Maudarh village in Hnahthial district, collapsed with over 20 labourers working at the site. So far, 11 bodies have been recovered from the collapse site. Five of those killed were from West Bengal, two each from Jharkhand and Assam and one each from Mizoram and Tripura. At least five earth excavators, a stone crusher and a drilling machine were completely buried under the debris. The death of the 11 labourers has highlighted the need for safety of the mine workers in India.
Vineet Kumar, Superintendent of Police (SP), Hnahthial district said that around 13 labourers were working at the quarry, which is owned by ABCI Infrastructures Pvt Ltd, when a massive landslide at the mining site led to the collapse around 2.40 pm on November 14.
Deaths and fatal accidents inside mines can be caused due to variety of factors, such as leaking of dangerous gases like hydrogen sulphide or explosive natural gases, particularly firedamp or methane, dust explosions, collapsing of mine, mining-induced seismicity, flooding, or simple mechanical errors from misused or compromised mining equipment.
According to a report, around 7,00,000 people are employed directly and indirectly in the mining sector, making it one of the largest industries in the country. According to several reports, the actual number of death of workers in mines is much higher as most of the deaths go unreported. Most of the unreported deaths occur in illegal mines or the rat-hole mines in the north-eastern states of India. Rat-hole mining is preferred over the legal open-cast mining in the north-eastern states. The reason behind this is the difficulties involved in obtaining a legal mining license. Also, rat-hole mines can be easily created and the minerals can be quickly excavated as compared to the open-cast mines.
*Figures are till July 2022
Maximum number of deaths related to mining accidents were reported in 2018. About 62 workers were killed due to mining related accidents in 2018. The year also reported 42 cases of mining accidents. The worst mining accident in 2018 was reported in Meghalaya in which in rat-hole coal mine as it collapsed due to flooding. Children are the most common victims of rat-hole mining as they are preferred due to their small body frame.
In February 2022, around 13 workers died in an illegal coal mine in Dhanbad, Jharkhand. The sealed coal mine was operated illegally and a large number of locals were indulged in the mining work. Ramanuj Prasad, former head of public relations at Bharat Coking Coal (BCC) had then said that no complaints are filed in such cases and the deaths go unreported.
It’s important to note that the above data does not give the complete picture. According to the data provided by the Ministry of Labour and Employment on December 31, 2018 in Lok Sabha, around 377 workers lost their lives due to mining from 2015 to 2017. Maximum number of miners (210) died in coal mines followed by the metal mines (152).
Despite, safety protocols and government policies and legislations on mining, the industry remains one of the most hazardous and unsafe industries in India. In order to put an end to the illegal mining in India, the Central government amended the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 in 2015. Under the amended act, the state government are also contributing in keeping a check on illegal mines in the country. But the data and the instances of illegal mining and deaths of the workers suggest that such measures are not enough to address the problem and ensure safety of workers.
