PHOTO: EXPRESS
“A lot of accidents take place at the site just because of poor safety measures and bad working conditions,” said Pahari Mazdoor Ittehad Union Chairman Hafiz Abdul Rehman.
The Punjab Department of Mines and Minerals, in connivance with the lease owners, is exploiting the labourers, said the union’s General Secretary Mian Ramazan. He shared that the lease owners pay wage for 200 per cubic feet to the workers while 400 cubic feet are loaded. The department has repeatedly been notified with the dangers faced by the labourers but officers of the department have not taken any action against the lease owners as yet, he said. “Around 400 workers died between 2000 and 2019 while the families of 170 labourers haven’t received death grant so far. These workers died on duty at the stone crushing sites.”
A labourer, Riaz Bhatti told The Express Tribune that labourers didn’t receive any grant in the case of disability. Moreover, the amount paid in case of death takes several years to obtain by the families of workers. “Workers Union charges Rs5,000 for the official expenses from the widows of workers which is illegal.”
Chaudhry Uzair Zia, a resident of Pull 111, said that stone crushing causes respiratory and pulmonary diseases among the workers. Also, due to the dust and various other issues people are unable to grow crops on their land, he said, adding that the government has not made any strategy to protect people from the environmental hazards.
According to environment department officials, owners have been fined heavily for not following the guidelines and hundreds of cases have been filed against them.
About Pull 111
Asia's largest stone crushing industry in Sargodha covers a vast area near ‘Pull 111’. The mountainous range spans over hundreds of acres of land and these resources are being used for the past many decades. In the past, these rocks and stones were transported to strengthen the banks of rivers and canals. This supply of stones continues but now dumper trucks have replaced freight trains.
In the early 1990s, traders set up crushers and large plants to crush the stones and these plants are still being used. To crack the rocks, the drill machine first drills a hole of about eight feet. A mixture of explosives and fertiliser are filled into the hole by using a wire to trigger a blast. Later, stones are transported to the crushing sites and then are broken into different sizes. These stones are then used to construct bridges and buildings.
Abdul Rehman said that raw material is supplied to different parts of the province from Sargodha. The stone crushing industry has played a great role in the prosperity of Punjab, he added. “The importance of Pull 111 cannot be denied in the development of various areas of the country. Major projects of Punjab such as Lahore-Islamabad, Lahore-Multan, Multan-Faisalabad Motorways, Lahore and Multan Metro, Ring Road Project, Orange Line Metro Train, Kartarpur Corridor, rural roads project, Dost Muhammad Lali, and Chiniot, Talibwala Bridge were completed with the help of this industry.
Chief Inspector at the Punjab Department of Mines and Minerals, Zafar Javed Mulghani, told The Express Tribune that death claim grants of the deceased labourers have been submitted in the department in Lahore.
The heirs of the workers have not been paid as yet due to the paucity of funds, he added. “We have warned lease owners to stop working at dangerous mountains. We have also registered cases in police stations against those violating laws,” he claimed.
Welfare projects
Mian Ramazan shared that the Punjab Mines and Minerals Department has set up a Labour Welfare Hospital in Chak 119. It is a 10-bed facility where 34 doctors and nurses, including Medical Superintendent work. In order to ensure a quick response in case of any accident, a rescue service has been made operational. There are two ambulances to deal with such a situation. In order to educate daughters of labourers, Mines Welfare Girls Higher Secondary School was also established in 2014 by the Punjab Mines and Minerals Department. The school provides books and uniforms free of charge. The employees of the school and hospital have also been provided houses.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 21st, 2020.
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