PESHAWAR, May 16: Over 1,000 workers engaged in coal mining in various parts of the Federally Administered Tribal Area (Fata) face serious safety hazards and suffer because labour laws are not followed in their case. According to sources, the administration in tribal areas and the NWFP Governor’s Fata Secretariat have done little to improve the working condition of the destitute miners in remote Orakzai and Kurram agencies and Dera Adamkhel, though the federal government had extended the scope of the Mines Act 1923 to the tribal areas in April 2000, they said.

However, director Fata minerals engineer Yaqoub Shah told Dawn that the government had not implemented the law in Fata and the directorate had no powers to force contractors to provide the required facilities to the miners.

“It is shocking to see the terrible condition of the workers who mine without using scientific methods, but the directorate does not have inspectorate functions in the area,” Mr Shah said.

“Obviously, mine owners violate laws. The wages they pay to workers are very low. They don’t offer them health and other facilities. Even mining engineers are not recruited,” he added.

A mineralogist said that primitive mining methods were not only potential threat to workers but they also led to wastage of natural resources and caused environmental degradation.

He said majority of the coal miners suffer from tuberculosis and other infectious diseases because they use unsafe methods, causing huge losses to coal mines.

Officials of the directorate said that two workers were killed when a coal mine caved in Orakzai Agency last month and their bodies could not be retrieved due to lack of facilities.

“Workers mine for coal about 700 to 900 feet inside narrow quarries for hours without masks or any other safety-tool,” a mineral inspector said, adding that every worker should have medical check-up after every 15 days but in the tribal area such facilities did not exist.

Yaqoub Shah said that the directorate had recently set up a mines rescue, safety and welfare centre in Orakzai Agency at a cost of Rs39.678 million but even this facility was inadequate.

According to the rules, place of excavation in a mine should have tow access passages, the second one for emergency exit and toxic gases’ exhaust, but in Fata all mines have single entrance.

It may be mentioned here that rich coal deposits had been discovered in Fata, stretching over Dera Adamkhel, Orakzai and Central Kurram agencies, while new deposits had been detected in Shirani area in Dera Ismail Khan.

At present, mining is underway at 80 sites of the tribal areas and daily production of coal is nearly 600 to 800 tons. The coal is supplied to sugar mills and brick kilns throughout the country. Use of coal has increased in the country due to surge in furnace oil prices.

Geological Survey of Pakistan had confirmed eight million tons deposits of best quality coal only in Orakzai Agency. They said that over 1,000 workers, mostly belonging to Swat district, were engaged in mining.

The officials say that there has been a national task force for exploration and development of coal, which is headed by President Gen Pervez Musharraf himself, but its role had not been extended to Fata.