If mining operations remain suspended, we will starve: Villagers

Geetanjali Gayatri

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 8

Weighed down by the uncertainty about returning to work and the struggle for livelihood if mining operations remain suspended for long, the mood in 15-odd villages around the Dadam mining site is one of worry and apprehension.

Though five workers lost their life in the landslide, the tragedy has touched nearly every family in the village associated with the mining operations.

While they are mourning the loss of the workers as a fraternity, all their conversations boil down to the bleak future ahead.

“I am not educated enough to get any work outside. If mining operations don’t resume, we will soon have nothing to eat,” says Kuldeep of Dadam village says.

The outgoing sarpanch of Baganwala, 38-year-old Naresh Yadav, has two trucks operating at the site. “For nearly two months, mining operations were closed in Dadam and had resumed the day the landslide took place. We have not been able to pay out instalments for the vehicles. If this continues, we will soon have to forgo the vehicles and will have hardly anything to eat,” he maintained, adding that farming was also not an option since there was no canal water available. His village has nearly 950 households, of which about 400 are associated with the Dadam site, while others are employed in different capacities at the Khanak mining site.

From Khanak village, Rambir, along with four men of the family, work at the mines to feed a family of 15. “When mining operations are closed, we go to the city in search of work and earn only Rs 450 a day. Staying in the city means more expenditure. We only get enough to feed ourselves and hardly have anything to send back to our families. The government should consider setting up a big industrial unit that can provide us alternative employment options. If there are no mountains and no mining, we would not know what to do to earn a living,” he said.

Stating that they live a life of dignity in the village because of the mining business, Raj Kumar of Baganwala says the city makes slum-dwellers out of them. “When mining was closed, we went to the brick-kilns to work. That is no life since we don’t have our home and are practically living on the road,” he added, insisting that the workers of adjoining villages dreaded the closure of mines.

Ishwar Singh of Panjokhara and his son work at the mining site in Dadam. The accident has unnerved them, but they are certain that the resumption of mining operations will help them put the tragedy behind them and get on with their lives. The mountains, the villagers believe, are their lifeline and they will keep going as long as their life can revolve around these mines and pits.

No alternative

With most families associated with mining operations for at least two generations, villagers say they have no big industrial units, no other establishments to look forward to and no alternatives to mining