EDITORIAL: Twelve people, including ten colliers, their mine manager and a contractor, died on Monday from inhaling methane gas at a coalmine in Sanjdi area near Quetta. They were working some 1,500 feet below the surface when methane started spreading all over the place.
By the time their colleagues noted that there was no response from them and called rescue teams all those inside the mine were dead. Such incidents keep recurring with a disturbing frequency. Less than two months ago, i.e., on March 21, methane gas explosion at a Khost coalmine in Harnai district claimed the lives of 12 miners.
Before that in January, 13 colliers perished in a similar gas explosions in Harnai and Bolan districts. Every year, 100-200 miners die in work-related accidents, says the Pakistan Mining Labour Federation. Still, poverty and lack of employment opportunities force people to work in dangerous environments.
It is a deeply distressing situation caused by the apathetic attitude of the relevant regulatory authorities, the Chief Inspectorate of Mines as well as the provincial Mines and Minerals Department. There obviously is no serious effort to implement the basic safety measures.
The mine inspectors reportedly claim to lack the necessary wherewithal to check the violators of existing safety rules and regulations. This makes little sense since all they have to do is report the rule breakers to their respective departments.
Apparently, they tend to turn a blind eye to violations either out of fear of politically influential mine owners or to have their palms greased. Then there are unregistered mines operating under the radar though in plain sight.
If the authorities concerned really want to curtail the risk factors, there are known ways to do that. As pointed out by experts, a vital safety measure is to install big ventilation fans, which can dilute methane to well below the explosive levels of 5 to 15 percent, while monitors mounted on mining machines deactivate them when the methane concentration reaches 1 percent. Also, a common practice in some other countries is to remove excessive methane before mining by drilling drainage holes. In our case all such essential safety measures remain neglected.
After every tragic incident leaders at the highest levels of government issue ritual statements, expressing sympathy with the families of dead miners and promising to provide them with some monetary relief.
They must also hold to account those responsible for such incidents, and ensure that all coalmines in the private as well as public sector take necessary steps to eliminate the risk factors that deprive so many poor people of the right to life or cause permanent physical disabilities to countless others.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024