Children - Terre des Hommes

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reason, according to them, for such high incidence of the
disease in this village could be due to the stagnating water in
the mine pits and the abandoned mines where rainwater gets
collected.
In Bramhanimara village the people stated that they used to
work in the mines earlier but many of them contracted TB
due to this work. Also, the proximity of the mine site keeps
them in constant danger of accidents and injuries from mine
blasting. The village has not received any social or health
benefits from the company either in the form of education,
housing, roads, electricity or other facilities although this is
the most directly affected by the project.
According to the medical officer of the CHC in Birmitrapur,
occupational health problems are significantly high in the area
and he informed that people suffered from respiratory illnesses,
malaria, TB (See Table 2.23 for data on TB cases), filaria and
other waterborne diseases mainly due to the mining activities.
He also stated that there is severe shortage of medicines in the
PHC due to the high rate of illnesses but the hospital does
not get any help from the mining companies.
Table 2.23: Data of TB for the last 4 years till
October 2009
Year Reported Positive
cases of TB
cases of TB
2006 228 52
2007 227 53
2008 376 53
2009 433 41
Source: CHC, Birmitrapur, (excluding the figure of the BSL run hospital)
Child Labour
There are many women and teenage girls below the age of 18
years working as unskilled labour either directly in mining
activities or indirectly in construction of roads and factories
in Birmitrapur area and the women said they get a wage of
Rs.60 per day while the men get Rs.100. Interviews with
workers in all the mine sites revealed that while those under
direct employment receive some form of benefits, the majority
of the contract labourers receive no benefits except for their
daily wages.
Children from displaced families and mine workers’ families
were found to be working either in mining or other ancillary
Young girls working in Dolomite mines and stone crushers at Birmitrapur,
Sundergarh (Photo November 2009)
activities like road construction work, loading of trucks,
breaking stones, working in the crushers or as cleaners for
the trucks. Groups of young girls go to the mines together
every day and work until 5 p.m. They work with the limestone
with their bare hands and have no safety gear given to them.
In Dillu quarry near Bramhanamari village, we found several
adolescent mine workers, most of them girls between the
ages of 14 and 16. There were 11 child labourers other than
these adolescent girls, who were found working. The girls
responded that they are hired as contract labour and earn
around Rs.40–50 per day for the tough work in the mines.
The girls are mostly hired in the stone crushers where they are
paid low wages but as the economic condition of the families
is very low, the girls are sent to work in the crushers. The
girls also reported that the mine owners give them sugarcane
every week, probably to boost their energy levels and extract
more work from them. Because of this impoverishment, the
local organisations complained that young girls are trafficked
to cities like Delhi and Mumbai by local agents who pose as
middlemen for employment. Local organisations working
for the rights of children have taken up the cause of human
trafficking in Sundergarh, which is mainly due to indebtedness
created by mining and other industries. Most of the boys
working in the mines were reported to be addicted to gutka,
alcohol and gambling. Strangely, we found many orphanages
situated in this region but the reasons for the significant
number of orphanages in one area, was not clear as we could
not interview the heads of these institutions.
Social Issues
The SHG or dakua women interviewed stated that due to the
mining activities there are many unwed mothers and there is a
high rate of trafficking of young girls and women and migration