–In absence of labour laws, mine owners hire inexperienced staff, leading to increase in death rate
PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has failed to announce compensation packages for the families of the deceased miners despite the Supreme Court (SC) orders.
In April 2018, the top court had ordered the four provinces to compile the data of all those engaged in mining and to provide Rs500,000 in cash to the families of labourers who have died in the mines. The SC had also ordered for the arrangement of education and training for mine workers and their children.
However, the KP government has paid no heed to the order, as despite the merger of formerly FATA into the province, no effective measures have been taken to protect miners in the area.
In tribal districts, there are no government hospitals for the treatment of miners nor are there any timely rescue facilities. In case of a tragedy, the rescue teams take a lot of time to reach the place, so the inexperienced mining staff is forced to rescue the stranded workers, which often has unpleasant outcomes.
A coal mining contract in the mountains is provided to the contractor at a cost of Rs2,000 per feet. Under the rules, a six-foot-long and six-foot-high tunnel is to be constructed to extract coal along with a second tunnel to provide oxygen during work and emergency assistance.
However, due to disregard from these safety measures to earn more in less time, major accidents have become a routine in these mines.
According to FATA Development Authority (FDA), 4,500 tonnes of coal is extracted daily from the tribal districts, which is supplied to industries in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Sarzamin Afghan, central general secretary of the Pakistan Mines Works Federation, an organisation working for the rights of miners, told Pakistan Today that more than 100,000 workers in the tribal districts of Bajaur, Mohmand, Khyber, Orakzai, North Waziristan and Dara Adamkhel are associated with the mining industry.
He said the mining of coal, marble, chromite, and other precious minerals was a source of employment, but unfortunately, there were no laws to protect their rights.
Giving an example of non-compliance of rules, he said a labourer, Naik Mohammad died in Kalakhel 41 mine because the size was of the mine was less than six feet, thus creating problems for the rescuers.
Afsarul Mulk Afghan, a local journalist and social activist, told Pakistan Today that up to 80 per cent of the people in the remote and backward Shangla district, with a population of 7.5 million, are engaged in the mining sector in KP, Balochistan, Sindh, and Punjab.
He said that due to a lack of educational facilities and economic activities in Shangla, most of the youth choose this dangerous work as a last resort.
Afghan said that every year over 200 people from Shangla alone die in mining or become handicapped and added that there was no mechanism in place to provide medical treatment and financial assistance to the affected families.
