Children - Terre des Hommes

51
Kolar Gold Fields: The Golden Grave
With the Golden Handshake
“We are angry that the government has not
bothered to give us an alternative livelihood. When
there is so much of land and infrastructure readily
available here and so many of us youth waiting for
employment, why doesn’t the government set up
some industry or Special Economic Zone (SEZ)
here to give us employment, instead of forcing
farmers elsewhere to give up their agriculture for
industries?”
Source: Group discussion with youth in Kolar township, Kolar, June 2009
The largest gold mine in India and the first public sector
mining company to face closure, Bharat Gold Mines Limited
(BGML), better known as KGF, is a story of abandonment.
It is a testimony of irresponsibility and lack of accountability
on the part of the mining company as well as of the state when
mining was abruptly shut down and workers faced overnight
retrenchment. It is a testimony of how such abandonment of
mining activities orphans the children of mine workers. What
was seen in KGF was a whole generation of children and
youth rudely thrown into the streets to rescue their families
from the golden graves of the ghost town called Kolar, which
was once the proud producer of the glittering metal for the
country.
History of Bharat Gold Mines
Limited
Based in Kolar district of Karnataka, BGML was a
Government of India public sector undertaking, spread
over an area of 13,000 acres. Established by the British in
1905, it became BGML in 1972 under the Government
of India, Ministry of Mines, and was primarily engaged
in the extraction of gold till the year 2002 when it faced
a sudden closure on grounds of financial losses. The
company extracted 514.17 kg gold in 1997, and in 1998
the revised target was 550 kg of gold but actually only
404.1 kg could be extracted; between January and March
of 1999 145 kg was extracted by the company. At the time
of closure the company had on its payrolls, a total of 4,345
employees of whom 2,336 were technical and 2,009 were
non-technical staff. 27
Closed BGML (Photo June 2009)
The company provided a township for its employees with
residential facilities for all levels of workers, basic amenities
of drinking water, electricity, sanitation, roads, schools and
medical facilities. The BGML hospital was located within the
township where workers had access to free medical services.
There were 17 schools, a degree college, a dental college and a
nursing college.
Social and Economic Background
Due to the legacy of the British establishment, KGF has a
distinct culture of English and Christian influence. A large
section of the employees originally hail from the neighbouring
states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala (Palakkad
district). Interestingly, although located in Karnataka, there
were few workers from within the state. At the time of the
study the township had the third generation of mine workers’
families living in KGF. The township has an abundance of
churches and temples and the workers are proud of their
multi-cultural background, social tolerance and a strong
sense of identity as a mining community. The workers stated
that this distinct culture has come from the history of being
together and facing the dangers of working underground, of
having to face mine accidents and fatalities and yet having
the security of the township and its employment. For almost
all the workers’ families for the last three generations, life
revolved around mining alone as they had never lived outside
of the township.
The children of this mining town had the privilege of
educational facilities from the company, the Christian
missionary institutions and some of the vernacular schools.
Hence most children attended English medium schools
27 http://mines.nic.in/arbgml.html