Tehelka 19 February 2005 Lifeless at Kennedy's Line
It's slow death for the jobless miners of the Kolar Gold Mines Chinmayee Manjunath Bangalore Every journey back to the Kolar Waiting for Godot: miners' families wait, for what? photo by s. radhakrishna Gold Fields (kgf) is terrible, tainted with an overwhelming sense of helplessness (see the series of articles in Tehelka Crusade, www.tehelka.com). The landscape remains as desolate, the dust-heavy air still chokes and the people are only wearier. Susairaju, a worker who leads the kgf People's Movement (kpm) and the miners' struggle, says, "Everyone is tired. Only a few of us are still fighting." Susairaju has done everything from a long march from kgf to Bangalore, to inviting Medha Patkar for a rally. "But nothing ever changes," he sighs. There still isn't any water supply; long lines of plastic buckets are waiting for the sporadic visits of the water tankers which sell water at Re 1 per bucket. The 242 stinking toilets remain blocked as the pit-sucking machine acquired in March gathers dust at the municipality office. In kgf, no situation is ever alleviated, it only gets worse. So is the case of sanitation workers who worked under Bharat Gold Mines Ltd (bgml) and then, under the Robertsonpet city municipal corporation (cmc). After bgml's closure, they continued their work for 10 months under the cmc, which then stated that it is not responsible for the bgml township, as the miners' colonies are known. Wages weren't paid and the workers can't find work elsewhere since they are of a lower Madiga caste. They live away from the upper caste people in the miners' colony, their area demarcated by a stagnant, primitive drain. The workers' quarters in Kennedy's Line, one of the miners' colonies, is home to 700 people crammed in 100 shanties. The tiny lanes are crowded since most adults don't have jobs and children have dropped out of school. "We just sit around, waiting, but we never know for what," says Illishamma, a 40-year-old widow whose husband died of alcoholism. Susairaju adds that men, who were mostly night soil cleaners, drink excessively on the job. "So most women here are widows," he explains. Children were taken out of school as the fees was unaffordable. There are boys and girls who have completed high school but can't study further to get jobs. One of them is 15-year-old Balavidya. "I want to get a diploma so I can get some work," she sighs. With three younger siblings to take care of, she wants to get some money into the house. "But my mother can't pay my fees and no one will give me a job." The workers formed the bgml Safai Karmacharis Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society in 2001. Several letters have been sent to the deputy commissioner, Kolar, and the director, municipal administration, Bangalore. One of the letters (November 11, 2002) reads: "We are all put through great hardship without any income for the past months The women and children of our community are virtually starving and about 25 persons are nearing their death due to hunger." Despite the urgent pleas, nothing has moved. This month, kpm, along with the People's Union for Civil Liberties (pucl) in Bangalore met Nilay Mitash, Director, Municipal Administration, Bangalore. YJ Rajendra, a senior member of pucl, said, Mitash has agreed to three demands. "He has said that two months' salary will be released to the karmacharis within 15 days and they will be employed for at least two months until fresh tenders are issued. Also, he has agreed to undertake the cleaning of toilets," says Rajendra. kpm and its supporters have decided to take up the issue on a war footing. "Enough of polite demands. We have to get more serious," says Susairaju. Other demands include the issue of yellow ration cards, which belong to the Below Poverty Line (bpl) category. "At least we can get some rice and kerosene then. Now we eat leaves that grow near the house," says Adiamma, a resident of Kennedy's Line. _________________________________ Labour Notes South Asia (LNSA): An informal archive and mailing list for trade unionists and labour activists based in or working on South asia. LNSA Mailing List: Labour Notes South Asia To subscribe send a blank message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> LNSA Web site: groups.yahoo.com/group/lnsa/ Run by The South Asia Citizens Web www.sacw.net _________________________________ ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Has someone you know been affected by illness or disease? 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