Asansol/ Raniganj (West Bengal): With a halt on illegal mining since the elections were announced, miners who work in hundreds of these high-risk narrow pits to dig out coal for a living have gone jobless. They said Sunday they will opt for NOTA (None of the Above) button as a mark of protest when they go to vote Monday.
Mining, both legal and illegal, is common in the Ranigunj-Asansol coal belt in West Bengal and in many cases, the coal mafia engage poor people in illegal work for a low wage.
But since the notification of elections and seizures taking place to curb illegal election funding, coal mafia operating in the areas have stopped operations throwing more than hundreds of these miners commonly known as ‘rat-hole miners’ out of livelihood. The story is more or less same in more than 3,500 illegal coal pits operating in the area which have either closed down due to excessive vigil or have slowed down the operations.
Sitting BJP MP Babul Supriyo is pitted against Moon Moon Sen of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the Monday’s elections for the Asansol Lok Sabha seat.
According to officials of Eastern Coalfields Ltd (ECL), illegal mining is currently under check and has slowed down in the election season. “Whenever we get any information, we take action,” an ECL official told this agency.
According to sources, in about 3,500 illegal coal mines in Asansol-Raniganj area, at least 35,000 people are directly employed, while another 40,000 get indirect employment.
“After a hard day of work, we get Rs 80-100. We just manage two squares of meal a day. We don’t want our children to engage in illegal mining. This is the only reliable source of income in the area as we neither have agricultural land nor any proper industry. The government should ensure proper employment for us and education for our children,” said miner Ashis Sardar (name changed), who is in his late forties.
Ranibala Munda (name changed also), another miner, said that in the past few elections due to increased vigil, the coal mafia calls off operations for two-three months leading to serious levels of unemployment in the region.
“The government and the political parties are not bothered about us. But when the elections come, they will ensure these mines are closed down. What will we eat? How will we run our family? My entire family will opt for NOTA this time,” asserted Munda.
Her view was echoed by local contractor Raju (again name changed), who manages the miners. “In election season, political parties make big promises but don’t fulfil them. We feel that this job should be legalised so that we get benefits and our children don’t get into this business. We want education for our children, proper health facilities and a decent job to run our families. But our views have always been falling into deaf ears. So we definitely will opt for NOTA,” he said.
According to sources, illegal coal mining, which has a daily turnover running into crores is considered to be ‘parallel economy in the industrial town belt of Asansol and its surrounding areas’.
Besides digging up plots, those engaged in illegal mining extract coal from mines abandoned by ECL. The coal extracted from these illegal mines sells for Rs 300-400 a tonne, whereas the miners get around Rs 80-100 after 12 hours of laborious work.
The BJP alleged that the ruling TMC is in collusion with coal mafia. “Everybody knows that the TMC and the local administration are in collusion with the coal mafia. It may have slowed down now but it will again gain momentum once the election is over,” pointed out Supriyo.
His views were seconded by former CPI (M) MP Bansagopal Chowdhury who said the money from pilfered coal runs is being used to oil TMC’s election machinery.
Senior TMC minister and local MLA Moloy Ghatak however, termed these allegations baseless and politically motivated.