Children - Terre des Hommes

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and pursued higher education. The presence of professional
colleges in the township is evidence of the high importance
given to education.
However, when the company was closed down suddenly in
2002, the entire population of KGF fell into a crisis with
no alternative source of income or livelihood. The workers
stated that although the salaries were not very high, yet the
infrastructure and free services provided to them by the
company ensured that the basic needs of health, education
and public services were met. However, when the company
shut down, not only were the salaries withdrawn but so also
were all the basic amenities. Since then the fate of the 4,345
families has been a tragic struggle for survival. The 17 odd
workers’ unions contested the company’s decision which took
advantage of the divisions among them and to this day, there
is no concrete solution that has emerged either through the
Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR), the
Supreme Court or by the central government.
For six long years the workers’ families held on to their agitation
and KGF witnessed a tumultuous struggle of a community
from a life of dignity to one of desperation, impoverishment
and collapse of a morale that is the pride of miners. The shock
of having no sustenance and the forced idleness of able-bodied
men who were used to laborious work, led to serious anxiety
related illnesses, alcoholism and crime. This also resulted in
domestic violence, behavioural disorders and, more than 149
suicides and stress related deaths. When interviewed by the
study team, the Medical Officer of the government Primary
Health Centre (PHC) at KGF also confirmed this, although
he was reluctant to give the case records officially.
After the closure, the company withdrew all amenities to the
workers, and state institutions did not take over as workers
were not in a position to pay for these services. Hence for
several years, KGF remained without public services like
drinking water, electricity, sanitation and other amenities.
Unable to sustain their families any longer, the workers
reported that they accepted the monetary compensation
offered by the government, which amounted to approximately,
Rs.150,000 for workers and about Rs.700,000 for officers.
The only concession was that all the workers were allowed
to retain the housing quarters by purchasing them from
the company at nominal prices. Therefore, KGF today is a
mining town of mine workers without any mining activity or
any other forms of economic opportunities. The houses of the
workers, with their bare furniture and sparse kitchens hidden
behind occasional festivities, are evidence of the poverty
brought upon the community by the mine closure. Neither
the company nor the government have paid attention to the
long term impacts of the closure on the social and economic
life of the workers and washed their hands off with mere
monetary compensation. The vast area of land, infrastructure,
manpower are all lying wasted in despair.
How Kolar Gold Fields Has Betrayed
Its Youth
The children of the workers’ families were the most affected
by the company’s decision. Children’s education and social
security faced the axe. As education was no longer a free service,
many of the workers could not pay school fees during the
period of the strike. Children faced humiliation at school and
many of them had to drop out. It was mainly the adolescent
girls and boys who were in high school who dropped out of
school and were forced to take the responsibility of sustaining
their families. Many of the workers felt humiliated to shift
to other petty jobs like working as watchmen, electricians,
security guards or petty vendors, and preferred to remain idle
and starving.
This immediately shifted the responsibility of supporting the
families on teenage children. However, as KGF offers no job
opportunities, they have to travel out to the city of Bengaluru
approximately 120 km away, in search of employment. The
workers sardonically comment on the government’s generosity
to the BGML employees when they speak about the railway
line and the trains that were introduced as compensation
for the mine closure. Every morning between 7,000 to
12,000 youth and young adults leave for work to Bengaluru
by these trains and return only late in the night. The study
team saw packed crowds leaving at 6.00 am in the morning
The morning train that leaves from Kolar carries thousands of young boys and
girls to work in Bengaluru (photo June 2009)