Silicosis victims get compensation
26 June 2011: The next-of- kin of 21 silicosis victims in Jodhpur were given an ex-gratia payment of Rs. 2 lakh as Fixed Deposit Returns (FDRs) in a public ceremony by Rajasthan Chief Minister, Mr. Ashok Gehlot, as per compliance with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) recommendations, which specifies victims suffering from silicosis as their violation of human rights. In the area of Occupational Health and Safety, this is the first time that a State government has been forced to pay compensation to the unorganised sector labourers who have no proof of identification.
This sum is in addition to the Rs 1 lakh that was paid earlier as interim relief. The fight for the workers had been led by Silicosis Sangarsh Samiti formed under the banner of Mine Labour Protection Campaign (MLPC).
The decision to pay compensation to the victims comes after a long battle by the workers.
In May 2007, after reports of silicosis victims were brought out in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH) conducted the tests on 164 people from Jhadole and Devgarh, to ascertain whether they are afflicted by asbestosis. These persons have been working in asbestos mines long before the mining of asbestos was banned in the country. But while the doctors, who had conducted the tests, had published research papers confirming asbestosis on at least 93 persons, none of them were personally given the test report even after the workers had applied for it under the RTI.
In April 2010, two workers had filed an application under an RTI, seeking medical report from the NIOH. On failure to get an answer, an appeal was made to Central Information Commission (CIC), which then directed NIOH to file affidavits detailing records available with the organisation on the medical tests conducted on the 126 mine workers from Jodhpur in 2007.
In their appeal to the CIC, the workers had mentioned the application they had filed under the RTI Act seeking detailed medical report on April 24, 2010 but failed to get an answer by the institute.
Workers had also sat on a dharna in January this year in Ahmedabad to demand reports from NIOH. The medical report was necessary to file for compensation as well as getting access to free medical treatment and as per a Supreme Court ruling, which says only NIOH is the final authority to ascertain whether a person is suffering from asbestosis or not to avail due benefits.
Prior to this, workers had been on a dharna in front of the sub-divisional magistrate’s (SDM) office in Jhadole in Udaipur. The dharna was lifted after assurance from the SDM of his personal intervention.
On continual pressure from NHRC and the workers, the Rajasthan government in April 2011 earmarked a sum of Rs 25.60 crore for making medical and other facilities available to quarry workers and workers of similar establishments.
Hundreds of mine workers afflicted with silicosis marched with black flags in front of the collector’s office in Jodhpur on the occasion of Chief Minister’s Ashok Gehlot birthday early this year.
In May 2011, the kin of silicosis patients and many of those afflicted with the deadly diseases had been sitting on a 28 day dharna outside the Jodhpur collectorate demanding compensation