Children - Terre des Hommes

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family works as a unit and manages to fill around four tractors
per day and earns Rs.700–800 per week per person. There
are some variations in wage labour from site to site. In
MT Patil Stone Quarry, men are paid Rs.130 per day and
women are paid Rs.70, while at Sai Stone Quarry men are
being paid Rs.90 per day, women Rs.50 per day and children
Rs.30 per day.
Mine Accidents
Santulan has recorded 31 cases of mine accidents in four years,
of which three cases were reported to be below 18 years of age.
However, this data is incomplete and therefore cannot be taken
as an accurate reflection of the situation of mine accidents, as
records are not being maintained properly either by the mine
workers, mine owners or by local organisations. Most of the
time, the mine owners provide first-aid and primary treatment
but no long term treatment or compensation is provided,
however serious the injury. In many cases, workers have been
made permanently disabled and could not continue work
which pushes the burden of family survival on the children. A
15 year old boy was killed but his family was sent back to their
village with a small compensation. This is only a glimpse into
the larger situation that could be the reality for stone quarries
across Maharashtra.
Health Condition of the Mine
Workers and Their Children
Dr. Shitre who is a physician helping Santulan on a
voluntary basis, stated that, on an average he treats
200 mine workers per week. He informed that most of
the health problems were related to lung diseases and
respiratory problems due to the dust from the quarries.
He said that workers are found to have all three stages
of respiratory illnesses—bronchitis, asthmatic bronchitis
and acute asthma. As they have to continue getting
exposed to the dust inhalation, they try to get relief from
alcohol and smoking but this aggravates the problem.
According to the Pune-based Paediatric Unit of DY Patil
Medical College, 50 per cent of the mine workers’ children
have reduced lung functions with symptoms like asthma,
tightness in the chest, wheezing, cough and breathlessness.
Children exposed to the dust for over 5 years were the
most affected. Many of them were exposed to the dust
right from birth. 55
In Suyog Nagar anganwadi, records show that, of the 211
children enrolled, 123 children are malnourished, mostly
under Grade I. In most of the mining colonies, there are no
anganwadis, neither are there any crèches at the mine site. So
infants are taken to the work place, thereby exposing them
to the dust, pollution and risk of accidents, as the parents
cannot keep a watch over the children continuously. Table
2.05 gives the Bal Shikshan Kendras run by Santulan in the
absence of anganwadi centres in the mine workers’ colonies
between 1997 and 2007. This is a very small sample of
children below 6 years of age who are not covered under the
Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme
which is the basic support institution for nutrition and
protection of children. At a state level, there could be a much
larger section of this child population who do not have
anganwadis and therefore, parents are forced to take them to
the mine site with no safety or nutrition available for these
infants.
Blasting in stone quarry areas at Nashik….unsafe for surrounding villages
and mine workers’ colonies (Photo September 2009)
Children of Balshikshan Kendra–in the absence of anganwadis, NGO provides
mid-day meal (Photo September 2009)
55. Times of India ( Pune ) , by Umesh Isalkar 18 November 2009