New Delhi, February 14th, 2012

Mr. P.C. Sharma, Member, NHRC said that no serious exercise had been done by most of the States to assess the dimensions of silicosis and what needed to be done to check this disease of lungs which is incurable so far. He was addressing the third regional review meeting organized by the NHRC in New Delhi today on the progress made by the States on the action taken by them to address the concerns relating to silicosis.

The aim of these review meetings is to emphasize upon the urgency to address this problem which is causing a serious threat to Right to Life. The participating States included the representatives from Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and West Bengal along with the representatives of Directorate General Factory Advice Services and Labour Institutes (DGFASLI) and Directorate General of Mines Safety (DGMS) and NGOs.

Mr. Sharma appreciated that there is some perceptible change in the approach of the authorities in different States, however, he expressed concern that barring Chhattisgarh no Chief Minister of the other participating States was informed by their concerned departments about the enormity of the problem relating to silicosis and how so many workers and their families working in unorganized sectors are getting affected due to this disease.

Mr. Sharma said that the NHRC is keen to know the results on the ground and not just the policies which are being framed and programmes which are in place which also needed a pragmatic review. He said that there appears to be a nexus between the employers and the government machinery who in a denial mode continued to put under the carpet the number of silicosis affected workers in their respective States.

Mr. Sharma said that as a matter of fact no State can claim that they have no cases of silicosis given the kind of all around developmental activities, construction and mining is going on. Therefore, all States need to conduct a survey of different industries and factories in their area which are prone to causing silicosis and discharge their responsibilities under the Mines Act, Factories Act and Labour Laws as already advised by the NHRC on a number of occasions.

Mr. Sharma said that the different authorities are not maintaining proper coordination to act swiftly in matters of payment of compensation to the victim's family and are rather found passing the buck when the cases of silicosis are reported to them by the NGOs and Civil Society. Appreciating the role of NGOs and civil society in this regard, he however, said that they should also try to bring these cases to the knowledge of appropriate authorities in the respective States including DGMS and DGFASLI for further expeditious action.

He said that good GDP is welcome but not at the cost of right to health. Problem of lack of resources has to be solved by the States and they need to prioritize their policies. He said that States should create good working conditions; pay proper wages to the workers under Minimum Wages Act; hold their periodical medical check ups and conduct survey of silicosis prone areas and industries.

NHRC officers Dr. Rajiv Sharma, Secretary General, Mr. J.S. Kochher, Joint Secretary (Trg.) Mr. C.K. Tyagi, Presenting Officer, Mrs. Mamta Singh, DIG, Dr. Savita Bhakhry, Deputy Secretary (Research) also participated in the discussions.

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