Almost every month we hear news of miner deaths
SARGODHA: Almost every month we hear the news of miner deaths, as a result of explosion caused by methane gas or suffocation. We are informed of miner deaths. A flash card on our television screens appears for the whole day only to disappear the very next day.
None of us have enough time to think about why did it even happen? Even the authorities concerned refrain from commenting on it.
In most of the cases the deceased are those who belong to rural areas and are the only bread earners of their families. So what happens to their families after their untimely deaths? no one cares to know about that.
In a developing country like Pakistan coal extraction seems to be more important than the value of human life. Authorities and worker unions do not seem much interested in providing safety measures without realising that equipping the mine workers with proper lightening system, oxygen masks and basic training doesn’t take much.
Even after so many lives have been lost, not a single investigation has produced an effective report on the matter up till now. So how many more lives are we willing to sacrifice before we ensure that companies are adopting necessary measures to prevent deaths of miners?
Maimoona Yaqub
Published in The Express Tribune, September 19th, 2018.
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