Forty-one workers were rescued from the collapsed tunnel in Uttarkashi after a gruelling 17-day operation. A team of 15 men from the Indian National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has been in charge. About 80 policemen, 20 fire services officials and 60 disaster management officials and engineers were engaged in the rescue operations. Despite round-the clock efforts by the rescue team, the workers were still trapped inside the tunnel.
Finally, the authorities decided to engage the services of ‘rat-hole’ miners to rescue the workers, which they did successfully. Everyone heaved a sigh of relief when all the workers came out safely.
There was jubilation all around. The Chief Ministers of the States from where these rat-hole miners originated, were felicitated. The rescue operation was lauded by Indian and foreign media alike. But had it not been for this incident, these miners would have continued to live in ignominy.
‘Rat miners’ use the side-cutting technique, in which they dig narrow tunnels on hill slopes through which miners go inside to reach the coal seam. This technique came in handy while manually digging the last 15 metres of the collapsed tunnel at Silkyara to create the evacuation passage.
But not many would know that ‘rat-hole’ mining is actually a banned practice. It is largely prevalent in Meghalaya, particularly West Jaintia Hills, East Jaintia Hills and West Khasi Hills. It involves manually digging up small tunnels, around 3-4 feet, through which workers enter and extract coal. It is called rat hole as the pit which is dug is large enough for one person to pass through and extract coal from the seams.
Considered dangerous, it involves miners going deep inside horizontal tunnels, which are generally constructed using primitive equipment. Such practices frequently result in accidents leading to loss of life in some cases.
On December 13, 2018, 15 miners died when an illegal “rat-hole” coal mine in Meghalaya got flooded with river water. In the wake of the accident, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) fined the State government Rs 100 crore for illegal coal mining.
The process is not only perilous for the miners but also detrimental to the environment. Rat-hole mining has been linked to a host of ecological issues, such as the acidification of rivers, deforestation, soil erosion, and the disruption of local ecosystems.
While we rejoice in the successful rescue of 41 workers and the role played by these ‘rat miners’, it is time to focus on the safety of labourers engaged in various infrastructure sites across the country. At least 6,500 employees have died on duty at factories, ports, mines and construction sites in five years, the Union Labour Ministry informed the Parliament recently.
According to Ministry data, out of the total deaths, 5,629, or over 80%, were reported in factory settings, while 549 deaths were reported from mines, 74 at ports and 237 died in central government jurisdiction construction sites.
According to the Annual Report of Ministry of Coal for the year 2019-20, between year 2000-04, 68 accidents occurred in the coal mines, causing 82 fatalities, between 2005-09, there were 60 accidents and 80 fatalities, 2010-14 56 accidents and 62 deaths and between 2015-19, 33 occurred, causing 43 deaths.
Workers face many issues like the collapsing of the tunnels. The mines could flood with water due to various factors. As the workers deal with dynamites to blast coal, they are also exposed to poisonous gasses.
The Coal Mines (Conservation and Development) Act, 1974, mandates the conservation of coal resources and the development of coal mines while ensuring the safety and health of workers. However, the implementation of these laws has been inadequate in many cases, leading to a high prevalence of occupational diseases among coal miners.
The lack of proper implementation of safety and health regulations has been identified as a key factor contributing to the high prevalence of occupational diseases. Additionally, the existing regulations do not address the specific safety and health issues associated with the use of automation and robotics in mining.
Coal mining poses several inherent, operational and occupational hazards and associated risks to the work persons. Hence, safety has to be of utmost priority for coal companies and various other government and private entities engaging labourers at their work site.
These poor workers are generally migrants and live in pitiable conditions. They too have human rights. Be it mine workers, porters in the docks and railway stations or construction workers, they too have a right to live with dignity.
The entire world has seen the two ends of spectrum regarding the lives of our labourers. While one set was trapped inside a tunnel for 17 days, another set was engaged to extract them. This incident has highlighted one very important fact, which is that society should not treat them with disdain.
