JAIPUR: Call it a mere coincidence or another feather in the state’s cap, but Rajasthan, one of the states plagued most by mining, has quietly thrown up a unique model to compensate mine workers afflicted with silicosis and other life threatening diseases. This comes at a time when most states are groping in the dark to trying to prove identities of mine workers mainly due to the lack of documents.
Rajasthan has so far given compensation to the tune of Rs 1.43 crore to 71 victims of silicosis and Rs 16 lakh to 16 victims of asbestosis. Of this, 8 received Rs 3 lakh each and 16 received Rs 1 lakh each in Karauli district while 28 received Rs 3 lakh each and 19 received Rs 1 lakh each in Jodhpur district. The 16 asbestosis patients in Udaipur received Rs 1 lakh each.
Much hard work and many meetings with senior state government officials later we have managed to craft out a unique model for compensating mine workers afflicted with life threatening disease. The absence of documentation makes difficult for doling out compensations as there is none to be blamed on the other side of the table,” says Rana Sengupta, CEO, Mine Labour Protection Campaign (MLPC), which has been working for the cause.
In fact, MLPC will be hold a consultation on Friday to share the model so that other states benefit out of it.
A multi-level system of diagnosis and compensation under the National Human Right Commission’s directives was set up. In this, a high level inter-departmental committee under the chairmanship of the chief secretary was constituted to specifically look into mineworkers’ health, prevention and diagnosis of occupation-related diseases,” he says. Read more
Courtesy: THE TIMES OF INDIA
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