Women can been seen dressed in widow’s garments, contaminated hill side serve as playground for children, barren fields tell of the toxic legacy – Roro, 20 kms from Chaibasa West Singhbhum, here there is no leafy greens or humming streams!
The Roro hills is infamous for an abandoned asbestos mine. The place reeks of tell-tale signs of careless closure and the 14 villages that surround the mountains. The only thing that can be seen here is toxic waste – the left overs of 70 years of mining, first by small, local players and then by big ones like Birla.
The hills here were once mined both for asbestos and chromium. It is estimated that nearly 0.7 million tons of asbestos waste mixed with chromite-bearing host rock lies scattered here. In 25 years no study has been conducted to assess the fate of this hazardous waste dumped improperly on top of Roro hills. The waste material extends several meters down slope spreading into the paddy fields on the foothills of Roro. About 40 centimeters of thick silty waste of crushed rocks is spread over the paddy fields and poisoning the local residents.
There are ex miners who have died before their times. “So many people have died before they turned forty,’ says Birsingh Sondi, Sahayak Munda (Deputy Chief) of Roro, who points to his neighbour’s house, “There lived Mangalsingh Sondi, who was 25 when he died.”
Dumbi Boipai, an ex-miner who feels recurring pain in his chest remembers his fellow miners who all are dead, he mumbles first to himself and then aloud, “Pooliya Sondi, Rohto Gop, Vijay Singh Sondi, Rahto Samadh,” and he suddenly refuses to speak as he takes a gasp. Some like Mukund Sundi are barely alive. His young wife is helpless, resigned, refusing to talk. “I worked in the crusher, where they produced asbestos,” says Mukund Sundi. They use to pay us Rs 7 a day.” Some of his symptoms match TB, but doctors can't pinpoint his illness and so they offer no cure.
There has been no assistance for Mangal Sundi from his former employers. “Koi nahi aya madad ke liye. Koi mera ilaj bhi nahi karwata.” (No one ever has come up for help. No one got me treated.), Sundi says in a whisper.
About 7 million tons of toxic waste is not exactly a playground for children but the children of Roro come here to scavenge for iron scraps that are sold for Rs 12 per kilogram. The slope of the hill which is now a powdery slide is used as a giant slide by the children. However, what they don't know is that such naked exposure to asbestos dust could result in serious diseases like asbestosis, asthma and even cancer.
There are many victims of Roro and the 14 surrounding villages who recall days of reckless mining operations and deplorable conditions of miners. Persistent cough, haemoptysis, pain in chest while breathing is common health complaints.
As per Jun Sunwai reports of a public hearing by Jharkhand Organisation for Human Rights (JOHAR) conducted in 2003, the testimonials of villagers say:
Jeevan Tubid, 50, is an ex underground mine worker who lost his leg while working in the underground mines of Roro as a loader. He has almost lost his eye sight and has intense pain in his lower back. No compensation has been paid yet to him by the mining company.
Pandu Pradhan, 45, almost lost his eye sight while working as a Timber man in the underground mines of Roro. The company gave him spectacles but no compensation.
Lakhan Doraiburu, 70, heavy equipment fell on his leg while working in the plant. No proper treatment was given to him for his injury. He still has lot of pain in his legs. He recalls workers in milling plant were given jaggery to eat. Many of his co-workers in the plant died while working or after the closure of the mines. Workers died of chest pain and spitting blood. No count of how many workers died and of what disease. No medical tests were done on workers while they were employed. No information was divulged on the medical conditions of the workers who were examined by the company doctors.
The asbestos mines were closed down in 1983 after Hyderabad Asbestos Cement Products Ltd. (now known as Hyderabad Industries Limited of the CK Birla group) decided that they were no longer profitable. If there is one example of sheer corporate and Government negligence, it is this.
“Workers who are exposed to asbestos and they are suffering from asbestos-related diseases like asbestosis and mesothalamia. Doctors call them TB patients, as they want to save their employers from giving any compensation,” claims Gopal Krishna, coordinator of the Ban Asbestos India (BANI) Network, a NGO working against the use and production of asbestos nationwide.
More than 40 countries have banned chrysotile asbestos, which finds use as insulation material, and in pipes and roofing. Over 100 corporations in Europe and the US have gone bankrupt paying liability to asbestos victims and their families. The 4500 crores turnover industry in India, companies’ claim that the kind of asbestos used in India is not carcinogenic, even as all forms of asbestos are classified as carcinogenic by the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). It is mentioned in a report by IARC that was published in 2010 - ‘Epidemiological evidence has increasingly shown an association of all forms of asbestos with an increased risk of lung cancer and mesothelioma.’
Even today, as per law, especially as per section 22 of the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1981, all asbestos mines have to be closed. The Hyderabad Industry Limited of the CK Birla Group did not close their mines at Roro village at Chaibasa, Jharkhand. The asbestos fibres that are blown into the wind, that seep into the fields and rivers, still exist 29 years after the mines shut down.
In his letter to the Union Minister of mines Gopal Krishna writes, “I wish to inform you that due to growing awareness about hazards of asbestos, villagers of Marwan Block in Muzaffarpur, Bihar have stopped the construction of an asbestos based cement plant. Bihar State Human Rights Commission announced that the plant has been wound up. Kerala State Human Rights Commission has banned use of asbestos roofs in schools, hospitals and public building and has held that exposing citizens to exposure of asbestos fibers and asbestos roofs is a violation of their human rights. National Human Rights Commission has held that even inmates cannot be kept under asbestos roofs in the National Capital Territory of Delhi.”
He adds in the letter, “I submit that some 60 countries have banned asbestos of all kinds including Asian countries like Japan and South Korea. Human biology of people is same everywhere. Indian workers and consumers must be protected from exposure to carcinogenic fibers.”
However for villagers of Roro and other 14 villages surrounding the hills, it has been 29 long years of wait and they are still counting. As generations pass, many die before their time owing to the daily dose of asbestos. Life of a miner matter a little, they die unaccounted and unprotected.
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