BHAKTAPUR, Nov 11: Even after the Duwakot tragedy that claimed the lives of five laborers about two weeks ago, hundreds of their colleagues continue to work in hazardous sand mines with no safety measures.
After the tragedy, Devi Lama, one of three injured in the accident, resolved not to work in such dangerous places. “Henceforth I will not enter the trenches to extract sand,” the 26-year-old had told journalists soon after surviving the accident.
But, for lack of any other source of livelihood, she has ended up back in the sand trenches.
On October 28, the five laborers died in Duwakot, Bhaktapur district when an illegally run sand mine caved in. Three others were injured.
“We have no choice,” Devi´s husband Diwesh says. “Poor folks like us have to take up whatever work we come across.”
According to Diwesh, Devi could not sleep for nights after the tragedy, nor get over the trauma of co-workers perishing in front of her own eyes.
Devi was also buried in sand up to her neck during the accident.
“She would not have survived if it had been black clay instead of dry sand,” Diwesh says. For days, she could not even set foot outside her home. But she ultimately joined the other sand miners again out of a real fear of not being able to feed her children.
“I am also going to return to work within a few days,” Diwesh says, adding he will try to find something relatively safe to do. “If that does not materialize, I will return to mining sand,” he says. Diwesh luckily escaped the accident as he was on a tea-break.
Padam Ghising, 31, who was in the same group with Diwesh and Devi, has also resumed working in the sand mines. Padam managed to support his family out of his savings for some time. But it did not last long. “I went back to sand mining after my meager savings ran out,” he says.
Padam´s wife Phulmaya also narrowly escaped in the accident. “I would have died had I not leapt forward quickly,” she says.
The trauma of the sand mine collapse haunts them both. Though they have not fully recovered, they are back on the job.
There is no precise data on laborers mining sand. More than 1,000 sand mine workers are estimated to be working in Bhaktapur alone. Sand mines are in operation across Kathmandu Valley.
The District Development Committee (DDC) of Bhaktapur has issued general licenses to 22 sand mines. But contractors for only three of the sand mines have permission from the DDC to extract sand in the current fiscal year. Likewise, DDC Kathmandu has issued licenses to 23 sand mines. And only 11 of them are operating this year.
Most sand mine contractors do not care for the laborers´ health and safety. They never provide them with equipment to protect themselves from incidents.
Most of the contractors often violate the basic norms for operating sand mines. Going by an agreement that every contractor has to sign to get a license, they cannot make workers work the sand mines after night fall. However, workers quite often have to work until late night.
Padam says the workers cannot call it a day unless all the trucks waiting to make deliveries are loaded with sand, no matter how late it is. They often work without any lighting arrangement in place.
It is not just the contractors who force them to continue sand mining in such risky conditions. It is poverty that drives them into the sand trenches without thinking about their health and safety.
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