SHANGLA: Around 30,000 coalmine workers, who were stranded in different parts of the country due to closure of mines, have reached their home towns here by paying hefty fares to transporters.

However, thousands of others are still stranded in deserted areas of all the four provinces.

The miners who reached their native towns in Shangla told Dawn that they had paid from Rs5,000 to Rs15,000 for each passenger as fare to cabbies who brought them to their native towns, while thousands of their colleagues from the district had been waiting for the government’s help to safely evacuate and transport them to their towns here.

“We paid Rs20,000 for four passengers to a car driver who brought us from Dara Adamkhel, as we wanted to safely reach our houses amid shortage of vehicles due to lockdown. We were stranded at the mines for the last two weeks,” Liaquat Ali, a miner from Koz Kana, told this correspondent.

He said that about 12,000 colliers had so far reached Shangla from Dara Adamkhel only through pickup vans and cars by paying exorbitant fares. There are still a large number of miners waiting for their payments by the contractors.

Many still stranded in different parts of country

Javid Khan, a miner from Pagorai, said after paying Rs10,000 as single fare to a car driver he reached home. He said he waited for the government’s response as it was announced that miners would be evacuated safely to their homes, but to no avail.

Amanullah, a contractor from Shangla, told this scribe that miners were returning to their hometowns in groups by arranging cars, pickup vans, trucks, etc.

“About 10 to 20 vehicles are leaving Hyderabad daily taking the miners to Shangla and Swat and each passenger is charged Rs15,000,” said Mr Amanullah.

He said that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had claimed that vehicles would be arranged for workers, but it could not take any such step so far.

Shangla Coalmine Workers Association general secretary Abid Yar said that several dilapidated coalmines were open and miners had been working there despite the lockdown.

He added that over 30,000 miners had reached their houses in Shangla from different parts of the country. He said that many workers were still waiting for the government to take them to their houses as mines had been closed.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2020