The Hindu extensively covered Jharkhand's man-made mine tragedy, nearly forgotten within first 24 hours by most of the Indian media. The Hindu was one of the few newspapers to carry 6 or 7 strong stories. Shiv Sahay Singh did an excellent job from the spot. Here is a strong story in today's paper says that Jharkhand mine tragedy was waiting to happen
Local activist's complaint points to violation of safety norms.
Image: The Hindu
The disaster at Rajmahal open cast mine in Jharkhand, which has claimed 18 mines so far, was waiting to happen as safety concerns raised by activists and locals were rubbished by authorities. Documents accessed by The Hindu reveal that a complaint by a local activist, pointing to violation of safety norms and forwarded to the Director General of Mines Safety (DGMS) by the Prime Minister’s Office, was termed “incorrect/false” in December 2015.
“After detailed inquiry on your complaint, the allegations made by you against the management of Rajmahal OCP (open cast mine) were found incorrect/false, which comes under the purview of Mines Act, 1952,” a letter written by the Director of Mines Safety (SD), Jharkhand had told Ashutosh Chakraborty, the activist who had filed the complaint with the PMO.
Interestingly, the response was sent on December 1, 2015. A year later, on December 29, 2016, hundreds of thousands of tonnes of overburden dump came crashing, burying men and machinery.