‘Silicosis killing agate workers’

• All male members of one single family have succumbed to ill-effects of silicosis. The family now has 12 widows, children and one male member. Unfortunately, even this surviving male is suffering from silicosis.
  
• Two brothers suffering from silicosis left their work eight years ago. Currently one is earning while the other is sitting at home.
  
• Workers are chained while they work in a factory, so that they cannot run away and lodge a complaint against the employers for inhuman treatments. 
  

This is just the tip of the silicosis iceberg witnessed at Khambhat as well as Anklav and Jambusar talukas of Bharuch districts, where agate industry thrives. What is more unfortunate is the high incidence of child labour in the industry.

People's Training and Research Centre (PTRC) recently conducted a survey, the findings of which will be handed over to the state government for stringent actions. If Jagdish Patel, founder of PTRC, is to be believed, there are nearly 20,000 workers in the agate industry across Khambhat, and villages of its taluka, and Anklav and Jambusar talukas of Bharuch district.

Patel said, "For our survey of active workers in these areas, we interacted with 4,570 workers. Of these, 2358 were males and 2212 were females. We found that respondents were engaged in six different processes of the industry. A majority of them, 31.04% was engaged in making small pieces known as 'fodiya', 26.11% were engaged in 'vindhara' and 15.34% were engaged in 'ghasiya'. The last group (15.34%) is at high risk of silicosis."

Further, while checking for the employee-employer relationship, PTRC found that 40.43% workers worked in the employer's house whereas 58.84% worked in their homes. Patel said,

"There are 43.91% workers working for five years indicating that the industry keeps getting new workers. Only 2.36% (108) have been working for over 31 years but less than 40 years and merely eight are working for over 40 years."

Patel said that, PTRC wants the state labour department to establish employee-employer relationship and also implement Factory Act and, in a few others, the Shops and Establishment Act.

They also found that agate industry has high incidence of child labour with over 10% of respondents falling in the age bracket of 6-18 years, highest being 423 in the age group of 15-18 years and 56 in the 11-14 years. Also prevalent is the habit of tobacco chewing, with maximum in the age group of 14-18 years.