The deadly silicosis disease has claimed and continues to claim the lives of hundreds of former employees of Bharath Gold Mines Limited (BGML) at the Kolar Gold Fields (KGF).

The Gold Town would have become a victim of nuclear radiation and related ailments too if the Centre’s now-scrapped proposal to dump waste from the Kudankulam Nuclear Plant had been implemented.

Silicosis, a lung disease caused by inhaling tiny bits of silica, was for long thought to affect only those working deep inside mining pits. But as the disease spread in the town, it was discovered that even those employed at the tail dump, where the mud was extracted from the gold mines, too were at risk.

Many have lived with silicosis for the last 11 years since BGML stopped drilling for gold in 2001, cursing their fate. Only the hope that the mines would one day be revived kept most of the old hands going even as the youth of KGF migrated in search of employment to towns and cities like Bengaluru.

Silicosis kills with gold dust in KGF

A former employee of the Bharath Gold Mines Limited (BGML), Panir Selvan, 57, was the latest to succumb to the deadly disease, silicosis, when he died on Friday at the Kolar Gold Fields (KGF).

The disease has already killed hundreds of men who worked in the deep pits of KGF to extract gold. Silicosis is a lung disease that is caused by inhaling tiny bits of silica. Silica is a common mineral that is part of sand, rock and mineral ores.

While it was believed for a long time that only those who worked deep in the mines were vulnerable to it, as the disease spread in the town, it was discovered that even those employed at the tail dump, where the mud was extracted from the gold mines, were at risk.

Silicosis is a deadly Many have lived with silicosis for the last 11 years since BGML stopped drill­ing for gold in 2001, cursing their fate.

Only the hope that the mines would be revived kept most of the old hands going even as the youth of KGF migrated in search of employment to towns and cities. The population of the town dwindled from four million to about 1.2 million in the years between.

But even as the people waited to hear the Supreme Court’s decision on December 13 on the revival of the gold mines, came the news that the mines could be used for dumping of nuclear waste from the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu. But on Saturday, Minister in Prime Minister’s Office, V. Narayansamy said that the Centre will not dump nuclear waste at KGF.

Experts on nuclear energy and waste management too raised strong objection to plans to store nuclear waste in the disused KGF mines, warning it could contaminate the region's groundwater and make it unfit for drinking by the people.

“And while the deadly nuclear cargo is transported to Kolar, millions of people in Karnataka, Andhra and Tamil Nadu will be exposed to all kinds of threats and dangers.

Nuclear waste management is much more expensive and dangerous than operating nuclear power plants and even the most developed countries like the United States and Germany are not able to handle the waste effectively,” says a member of the Struggle Committee of the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy.

The people of KGF find it hard to understand how the government could pro­m­ise to revive gold mines and then reveal that it has for years been considering using them to store nuclear waste.

“The Union government had promised to invite global tenders to revive the mines, while it has been planning to use them to dump nuclear waste.

Let the government, which is denying it now in Delhi, tell the Supreme Court that it will not dump the waste in Kolar,” dem­ands Mr Venkat­eshwar P.N., a former employee of BGML, echoing the sentiments of all the locals here, who are unwilling to put up with any more health hazards in their midst.