CITU demands compensation for trapped miners

New Delhi, Sep 7 (UNI) The Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU) demanded adequate compensation and employment to kin of the 50 workers trapped in Nagda mine near Dhanbad, expressing concern over inadequate safety measures in the mines across the country.

The Coal India and the BCCL should do everything possible to rescue them, CITU said in a press release here. Blaming the dual policy of neo-liberalisation to extract as much coal as possible at the cost of mine safety net and ground mine development, CITU stressed the need for adopting mining ethics to prevent mine holders from abandoning an underground mine before all the available coals are extracted and sand filling is accomplished.

In no civilized society, mines are abandoned half way allowing different kind of gases to flow from one to other causing fire and accidents in the underground and nearby mines as well as land subsidence, CITU lamented.

The CITU called for comprehensive inquiry into the accident by involving policy representatives from across the society.

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