Mizoram Stone Quarry: 5 Recent Incidents Of Labour Accidents And Unregulated Safety In Northeast

In yet another horrific incident of labourers’ deaths in India, a stone quarry in south Mizoram killed eight labourers while four have been reported missing. The incident occurred on Monday afternoon when 13 people were working in the quarry when it collapsed. While one person managed to escape, the rest got trapped. 

As per the reports, all of the labourers were from Bihar. However, the bodies have yet not been identified. "The identification of the dead bodies will be done after post-mortem examination. The search operation is still going on and will be continued till all missing are found," a statement from National Disaster Response Force said. 

In the wake of the unfortunate incident, that happened in south Mizoram's Hnahthial district, about 160 km from Aizawl, we take a look at a few of the recent killings and injuries of labourers in the northeastern states of India due to the poor infrastructure and lack of responsibilities on the part of employers and authorities:

1. Dibrugarh tea factory 

On July 19, early this year, a 24-year-old Maina Nayak, while working at a tea factory at Dibrugarh’s Lepetkata Tea Estate, owned by Luxmi Tea Company Private Ltd was seriously injured when her hair got caught in a CTC machine, which crushes, tears and curls tea leaves. Maina was sweeping the floor when the incident occurred, following which her hair and skin were ripped off the scalp.

Maina was rushed to the hospital where she was admitted to the ICU and the expense was paid by the tea manager. However, following the accident, protests broke out along with a political outcry leading to the Assam labour welfare department suspending Dinesh Chandra Roy, senior inspector at Dibrugarh’s Lepetkata Tea Estate factory, for alleged negligence in duty.

2. Illegal coal mine accident

In September, early this year, three labourers were killed in a mishap at an illegal coal mine in Assam’s Tinsukia district along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border. The incident occurred outside of Ledo Tikok coalfield following which five more labourers were apprehended for engaging in illegal mining. A preliminary probe led to the arrest of a few men who were running the rat-hole mining. 

Also Read: Mizoram Stone Quarry Accident: The Murky Record Of ABCI Infrastructures For Whom The Labourers Were Working

3. Coal mine accident in Meghalaya

In August, early this year, an illegal coal mine accident in Meghalaya’s  Shallang area of West Khasi Hills district killed one while leaving another person battling for his life. The two persons, who were trapped in the coal mine, were identified as Lependro Sangma, 34, and Hendid Momin, 33, both from Uguri village. Sangma died on the spot, police said.

Anti-coal mine activists shed a light on the incident to once more highlight the State’s failure to curb illegal coal mining. 

4. Labourers killed at the railway project site in Kalimpong 

Last year, in December, two labourers were killed at the Sevoke-Rangpo rail project site in northern West Bengal’s Kalimpong district as a heap of soil collapsed, burying them. The incident happened during ongoing digging work at Kalikhola for erecting a pillar for a rail bridge.

The workers were working in a gorge when the soil from above collapsed on them. Although they were taken to the hospital, the duo succumbed to the injuries. The project faced a lot of protest from environmental activists who alleged the felling of hundreds of trees. 

5. Labourers killed in a crane accident 

In January 2021, six workers in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia hills district were killed in a crane accident while working at an abandoned coal mine site. The incident happened in Sarkari near Rymbai village and all the labourers belonged to Barak Valley in Assam. 

The incident happened when the crane broke down taking the labourers almost 100 feet deep down into the ground. Following the incident, authorities started an investigation to ascertain whether the spot of the accident could be called a coal mine as no traces of mines were found. 

Also Read: Built In British Era, Damaged In Gujarat Earthquake: A 143-Year-Long History Of Morbi Bridge

Safety of labourers in question 

The abovementioned incidents are only a few in a pack of several similar incidents which go unreported. However, the question that remains at large is the safety of workers in such conditions. 

Workers are not provided with the required safety gear that is needed while working in tea factories or coal mines. 

Despite the Factories Act of 1948 which is meant “to ensure adequate safety measures and promote health and welfare of the workers employed in factories as well as to prevent haphazard growth of factories”, workers’ conditions go unregulated every day, leading to deaths and unrecoverable injuries. 

The Act also clearly states that only “trained workers” should operate machines with safety gears in place, while women and young persons are barred from cleaning, lubricating or adjusting machinery when the machinery is in motion.

Similarly, despite activists protesting the large operations of illegal coal mining, the activities could not have been stopped because reportedly these coal mines are owned by politicians across places. 

The National Green Tribunal banned hazardous rathole coal mining in April 2014. The Supreme Court also imposed restrictions, later on, allowing only the coal extracted till the ban came into effect to be transported.