Baran couple, both silicosis patients, wait for relief

JAIPUR: In the Adivasi dominated Shahabad block of Baran district, there are several poor people who have worked in mines in neighbouring MP and returned with the incurable lung disease, silicosis. At Mankakheda village in Sandokda gram panchayat, there is a Bhil family where both the 70-year-old father, Jabla Bhil, and his wife Bali suffer from silicosis. Now unable to work, both man and wife stay home as their two daily-wage labourer sons work to make ends meet.
Firoz Khan, a social activist who regularly tours the villages of Baran district told TOI that the couple has still not received the Rs 1 lakh compensation money that the government offers to those certified as patients of silicosis – with both the husband and wife suffering from this condition, this couple should get Rs 2 lakh.“The couple worked for over 40 years in a factory in Mandsaur district of MP, at village Multanpura. They would work in the manufacture of slates and chalk. They have now undergone tests that show that both of them have silicosis. Their factory owner did put them through some treatment, but this condition is incurable. The two have now returned to their home in Baran, but are too weak to work,” Khan said.
The couple has documents to show that they were diagnosed with silicosis and treated in MP. “The district administration should set up special screening camps here so that such cases are diagnosed and given relief,” Khan said, adding that one resident of Kishenganj block in the district had been given relief by the district administration under similar circumstances some time back.
Shahabad block medical officer Atal Raj Mehta said, “The man and his wife will be tested. They will be given the relief meant for silicosis patients.” In major relief to silicosis patients, the Supreme Court in May this year ordered the Gujarat government to pay Rs 3 lakh in compensation to the kin of each of the 238 dead mineworkers. It also asked the Madhya Pradesh government to provide proper rehabilitation to 304 patients of silicosis.