SWAT: Five more laborers hailing from Shangla district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa lost their lives in two mining accidents. According to details, four workers working in a coal mine in Hangu County were killed in an explosion inside the mine yesterday evening. They died after being buried under heavy rubble. The bodies of all the four deceased workers arrived at their hometowns in Shangle. Among those killed in the Hang mine incident were Jehan Badshah, son of Rozi Khan, resident of UC Dherai Zainkhel, Habib Gul, son of Sar Zamin, resident of Kadoon Kuz Kan, Ayub son of Muhammad Sherin, resident of Nishal and Naeem Ullah son of Said Zaman, resident of Ganshal, Shangla . Another miner working in an emerald mine in Fizaghat of Swat also lost his life due to suffocation. The victim of the Swat mine incident has been identified as Iqbal Muhammad, son of Muhammad Khan, a resident of Sharona Amnavi area of Shangla district. Pakistan is the leading country in the world where most of the coal mines are located.
Being one of the most underdeveloped districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Shangla district has been providing skilled workers to the coal industry across the country since the 1980s. In return, it was appreciated – the huge human sacrifices of the workers, where 30 thousand wives of coal mines spent their lives as widows and more than 80 thousand of their children became orphans, mainly as a result of dangerous measures. and the lack of proper training for private industry coal mine workers.Mr. Ali Bash Khan, a resident of Shangla district. Conversation. He said there is no industry and no job opportunities are available for people here in Shangla district, “which forces more than 70 percent of the population between the ages of 15 and 55 to work in coal mines in Balochistan, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab,” he lamented si and added that the number of these miners belonging to Shangla is more than one Lac working in various mines in Pakistan. their bodies are brought to their homes.” Mr Khan revealed, adding that more than 8,000 workers from Shangla had been affected by mine accidents since 1982, most of whom were unable to work for life. Habib-ur-Rehman, a 42-year-old coal miner of Olander Shangla, said he has been working as a miner since the last 22 years and added that the main factor that caused the loss of people was,” he said. “Coal miners are digging at a depth of 4,000 feet without any proper equipment and safety” he added that there is no way out except oxygen in these caves. Haroon Bacha, a 22-year-old resident of Damorai village in Shangla district, who was disabled for life while working in a coal mine, said , that it was on 2 July 2019 when I was working at Al- Badar-4 Mines Akhorwal National Coal Company mines in the tribal area when the mine suddenly collapsed and I was buried “In this accident I had a broken femur and one of my claws became a lifer,” he added.
He said the company compensated me in the form of what, a lesser amount of Rs 180,000 while refusing further treatment. “It is apathy on the part of the government that I am still waiting for the release of Rs 300,000 approved by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government,” he pointed out. To a question, he said that he had already filed a case against the contractors in the Alpurai Local Court, which was still pending. “The laws of the International Labor Organization (ILO) are fully respected all over the world but unfortunately in Pakistan coal mines are yet to get industrial status and the workers are not paid wages and benefits as per the same law. Even in the current inflation, coal mine workers are still getting wages from 2007. concluded by Ali Bash Khan.
