Pit of despair

The tragic death of at least 23 miners last weekend after the collapse of two coalmines near Quetta has brought the focus back on the neglected issue of workers’ safety in Pakistan – particularly the inherent dangers in a profession as hazardous as coal mining. In the latest tragedy, two separate coalmines collapsed in a single day; one in Marwar when 16 people were killed after a methane gas explosion caused the roof to collapse, and the second in the Surran range coal field. Coal mining is amongst the most dangerous work in the country; and mines continue to operate with the most archaic of technological set-ups –really a disaster waiting to happen. The biggest concern in coal mines is the buildup of methane gas, which can be solved through adequate ventilation pockets inside coal mines. In the case of the Marwar minefield, one of the workers has said that there was poor ventilation inside the mine.

Worker safety has never been a priority in the country, which would explain why an estimated 200 miners die on the job every year. It is now the job of law-enforcement authorities to investigate if safety standards were being met. If there was any negligence, criminal charges have to be filed against the owners. Simply paying a fine is not enough. Only the possibility of prison sentences will act as enough of a deterrence for capricious mine owners to take worker safety seriously.

We already have a long list of mine disasters in the recent past. In 2016, seven miners were killed after a cave in Orakzai Agency collapsed due to rain. An explosion at a mine in Balochistan in 2011 killed nearly 50 miners. No one knows better than coal miners how dangerous their work is and so they should be at the forefront of setting safety standards. We already have laws on the books regulating mines, including the Mines Act 1923 and Coal Mines Ordinance of 1960. But these laws are often ignored because coal miners’ unions are not as strong as they should be. Most of Pakistan’s mines are located in Balochistan and Sindh but a large number of the miners have migrated from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They have a difficult enough time ensuring they are paid minimum wage and are not overworked that organising for safety measures has proved difficult. The state has to empower unions so that they can press not just for improved safety in mines but to get the benefits they deserve for toiling in a profession where respiratory illness are common and danger is lurking in every corner. Unfortunately, in a country where the lives of workers are not considered to be of any value, there is little chance that either the provincial or federal government will step up and take the strong measures needed to ensure that such accidents are not repeated.