Demanding an “impartial” probe into the mine mishap in Jharkhand that has claimed at least 10 lives, with about 50 still trapped inside, the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) on Friday alleged that the Eastern Coalfields Ltd (ECL) management had “ignored” a “crack” reported by workers.

In a statement, CITU president K Hemlata said as per reports received from Jharkhand, the accident took place between 7 and 8 p.m on December 29 when it was dark. She alleged that in the mine “large heaps of overburden, of around 500 metre was stacked on all three sides of working face, to a height of 100–150 meter illegally”, adding that workers had reported that the stack had developed a crack to the management.

“Instead of ensuring their safety, the private management and ECL compelled the workers to go into the mines. The crack got worse due to the vibrations from blasting in a nearby work site and collapsed over the workers,” Hemlata said, adding that “it took more than 16 hours for the rescue teams of ECL to arrive to the spot.”

While condemning the “apathetic” attitude of the ECL management, CIL and Coal Ministry towards the safety of workers, CITU demanded that outsourcing of coal mining be stopped immediately and also demanded permanent jobs for the nearest of kin of the victims.

CITU also demanded that the families of the victims be paid Rs 12. 5 lakh in addition to the normal compensation, as recommended by the court of enquiry in the case of Anjani Hills disaster and accepted by the Centre.

During the past three years, there have over 340 deaths due to accidents in the mining sector, of which 1,195 people have reportedly been seriously injured. More than 36.8 per cent of such fatalities are of contract workers and the number has been increasing with outsourcing, said CITU.

“The mining sector is gradually becoming a virtual death field and increasing pace of outsourcing and contractorisation is making the situation more precarious,” Hemlata said.

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