NRI steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, the richest man in Britain today, is facing accusations that he is cashing in on “slave labour” conditions with scores dying in accidents in his mines in Kazakhistan. According to a report in The Sunday Times, coalminers working in Mittal’s Kazakh mines claim his firm is endangering their lives by using dangerous, outdated equipment and by cutting corners. More than 90 have died in the mines since 2004, the report said.Miners claim that conditions are worse than in Soviet times.Mittal, whose family’s wealth is valued at 19 billion pounds in The Sunday Times Rich List, runs the worl’'s biggest steel producer. This year he donated two million pounds to the ruling Labour.The allegation was countered by Arcelor Mittal, his company, which said health and safety was a “top priority” and that it intended to invest 63 million pounds for improving safety at the mines.Arcelor Mittal said the miners’ concerns were being addressed and it would spend 13.2 million pounds this year on modernisation. New personal gas detectors and masks are on order. It said its investment is already paying off with no fatalities being reported this year and injuries have dropped by 30 per cent.According to the report, the allegations were made by miners and widows of some of those who have died at Mittal’s mines in Kazakhstan, which he has owned since 1996.Last September a gas explosion killed 41 in the Lenina mine. Two years earlier an explosion in the neighbouring Shakhtinskaya mine claimed the lives of 13.
