There's danger but we have no choice: Mine worker

Geetanjali Gayatri

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 2

Happiness turned sour in minutes for all workers involved in operations at the Dadam mining site in Bhiwani’s Tosham block with the landslide that resulted in five deaths yesterday.

Thirtyfive-year-old Ashwini Dahiya, engaged in transporting mining material, has spent the last two days watching bodies being extricated from the debris, rescue teams working round the clock and hope dwindling with every passing hour. “The landslide took place at around 9 am and I reached here at 9.15 am. Though none of the victims were personally known to me, it came as a shock to know that my co-workers lay buried beneath the debris,” he says.

With operations closed for over 50 days at Dadam, the workers received a message on December 31 that mining was resuming the next day.

“There was celebration as the mine started filling up with workers. This is our only source of income and everyone was happy that they were getting back to work. However, the first day of the New Year and the resumption of mining operations turned into a tragedy as the mountain came sliding down and buried those who had reached the work pit,” Dahiya says.

Since then, Dahiya and other villagers stayed put as the operations continued.

“The last body has been found. They called in the ambulance, indicating that it has been extricated. Though we know we are working in perilous conditions, I never thought I would see bodies being pulled out from the debris. The danger is real but we have no choice. After this incident, it will be difficult to get the fear out of our heads but we will come back and put ourselves in danger again because there is no other source of income in this desert-like stretch,” he said.

While two workers were cremated today, the bodies of others were handed over to the kin after the autopsy.