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 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 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. 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 migrated in search of employment to cities like Bengaluru. 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 Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu. But on Saturday, minister in PMO, 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. “While the deadly nuclear cargo is transported to Kolar, millions of people in Karnataka, Andhra and TN will be exposed to all kinds of threats. Nuclear waste management is much more expensive and dangerous than operating nuclear plants and even the most developed countries like the US 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.