July 15, 2003	Tuesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 14, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, July 14: Pakistan’s mines industry is a hotbed for bonded and child labour, said speakers at a seminar held at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute on Monday.

The speakers noted with concern that the inhuman practice of bonded labour was continuing in violation of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention, to which Pakistan is a signatory.

Ahmad Saleem, who conducted a detailed study on the issue in the country, described the pathetic living and working conditions of the mine workers in the four provinces.

He said about 80 per cent of mines-related accidents occurred owing to lack of safety measures for the workers. The workers, mostly unskilled, are not imparted any pre-job training, he added.

Quoting from his survey, he said the worker were not provided equipments like masks, glasses, specially-designed shoes to protect them from poisonous gases in the mines, dust and other hazards. Most of the mine workers suffer from skin and chest diseases and tuberculosis, he added.

He said average working life of a minor was hardly seven to 10 years.

About living conditions, he said most of the workers were deprived of even basic amenities of life like health, education facilities, proper housing, potable water and electricity.

He observed that conditions in private mines were worse than in government-owned mines.

However, the most agonising revelations he made were about the vicious circle of bonded labour. About 80 to 85 per cent miners working in mines situated in the four provinces of the country come from districts Swat and Shangla, NWFP, he added.

“An agent of the mine owners, who always remains behind the screen in most cases, recruits the people for this exhausting grind by giving them ‘advance money’,” Mr Saleem said.

The advance money ranges from Rs40,000 to Rs45,000 in Balochistan, Rs25,000 to Rs30,000 in Sindh and at its lowest in the NWFP.

About wages, he said a miner was paid Rs200 for taking out one ton coal from the thousands feet deep mines but added the money was paid only after the coal was sold.

Another matter of concern was children working in the mines. These children called Patali are below the age of 16 years and often sexually exploited by adult partners, he added.

He said the children drive donkey carts loaded with coal from mines to storage facilities.

A trade unionist, Saeed Khattak, said there could be no improvement in the socio-economic conditions of the miners until there were strong trade unions in the industry.

He criticised the Labour department for failing to safeguard the interests of the miners.

Mr Khattak said his organization had trained 40 miners in labour laws and 20 of them would serve as master trainers.

He was optimistic that in an era of globalization, the lot of miners would also improve.