Activists here have accused the State Government of resorting to “delaying tactics” to evade providing compensation to families of workers who died due to silicosis, a lung disease caused by inhalation of silica.
According to a recent report submitted by the State Government to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), it has come up that at least eight persons have died since 2012 because of silicosis. The workers, from the Minakhan block in North 24 Parganas district, were employees of stone-crushing factories in Bardhaman district who died of the lung disease.
In the report, the State Government admitted that compensation was yet to be provided in the case. “Till date no compensation was known to have been disbursed by either by the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) or the State Government,” the report stated.
Activists also questioned the government’s stand that the compensation procedure could only be initiated when the photo copies of ESI cards and payment documents were submitted. “This is a delaying strategy as the poorest of the poor workers are expected to maintain papers like the educated middle class,” said Naba Dutta, an activist and convenor of an environmental NGO, Sabuj Mancha.
The State Government said that among the factories, Lakhi Stone Factory and Tarama Minerals were not registered under the Factories Act, 1948, while Balakrishna Minerals was registered. The report further states that since the Lakhi Stone Factory and Tarama Minerals were unregistered, they could not be “located”.
“How can the State Government impose such a stipulation for compensation when it stated in the report that among the three stone crushing units, two cannot be located as they were unregistered and none of them provided their workers with any payment documents,” said Samit Kumar Carr, secretary general of NGO Occupational Safety and Health Association of Jharkhand (OSHAJ).
Mr. Carr has moved the NHRC over the issue. He also pointed out that since none of the dead workers had ESI cards, the ESIC would not be able to provide any compensation to them. “I will also call it a ploy to evade compensation,” he said.
Activists also alleged that while the government is liable to pay the compensation, it is trying to put the responsibility on the industry’s shoulders, he said. The Labour Department is expected to pay the compensation, the activists said.
Moloy Ghatak, the Minister in charge of the department, did not respond to calls.
