A National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) team raided a quartz-crushing factory in Godhra on Tuesday, while another team is at work in Balasinor, following reports of silicosis-related deaths amongst the tribal labourers.Camping in Gujarat since October 24, the NHRC team has been carrying out an on the spot assessment of safety norms in the region. The teams will also record the testimony of several labourers. NHRC senior officials A V Issac and Ravi Singh are leading the two teams. On Tuesday, officials inspected the quartz-crushing factory, Gloss India Limited, located in Godhra. “We will submit a report to the NHRC chairman who, in turn, will make recommendations to the state government,” said a senior NHRC official on grounds of anonymity.Another team is inspecting similar crushing units in Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh. The NHRC team is also working with the Gujarat Pollution Control board (GPCB) and a team of factory inspectors. Sources said they were trying to ascertain whether the units were following prescribed safety norms. The NHRC team received a complaint from labourers who have suffered from silicosis in the recent past. They also received a few reports of the hazardous conditions they work under from an NGO based in Jhabua.Activists have been fighting a legal battle for the silicosis-related deaths and also seeking compensation, medical intervention and imposition of proper working conditions in the quartz crushing units. The tribal workers, mostly from Vadodara’s tribal area and border area of Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh have been working in the quartz crushing unit without safety masks and other precautions. Many of them have dies a slow and painful death as their desease have been diagnosed as tuberculosis and not silicosis. Express Newsline in Ahmedabad had reported on September 17 how more than 200 tribals from Alirajpur tehsil in Jhabua district have died of silicosis in the last four years after working in the quartz units in Godhra and Balsionor.Many others too in Jhabua are fighting a losing battle against silicosis without any help or compensation coming from any quarter. Taking cognisance of this report, the NHRC has also issued a notice to the Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh governments asking them to submit a factual report within a month’s time.
