Ground reality
It is 2 am, and mining at a unit located in a remote area in Beawar (Ajmer district) is on in full swing. Trucks loaded with asbestos can be seen constantly moving to and fro, the light from their halogen lamps struggling to pierce the all-pervasive cloud of toxic dust. Not a pretty picture at all.
Till about 1986, when the government decided not to grant any fresh mining leases, this scene was quite common in the asbestos mines of Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, too. But that has stopped now. In Rajasthan, however, officials of the mining department and the Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board (RSPCB) concede that large scale, clandestine mining and grinding of asbestos are still being done. "In fact, very recently we came across several abandoned as well as active pits in Beawar,' reveals T S Ranavat, regional officer, RSPCB.
Prior to 1986, there were over 80 mines in Rajasthan located mainly in the districts of Udaipur, Rajasmand, Ajmer and Pali. Today, only those people whose 20-year lease hasn't yet expired are allowed to mine asbestos legally.
However, illegal mining operations are rampant in the Jhadol area of Udaipur, Beawar in Ajmer and Devgarh in Rajasmand. About 99 per cent of the asbestos here is of the high-risk amphibole variety, which is associated with a host of asbestos-related diseases.
According to S K Dave, a noted occupational health expert and former director, National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH), "Most of the asbestos mining in India is done illegally under extremely hazardous conditions. NIOH inspections have witnessed appalling conditions of asbestos mines and factories over the last 30 years.' He adds, "The institute had done an environmental evaluation of tremolite mining in Rajasthan in August 1999 and found seven to 10 times higher levels than the permissible limits.'
Asbestos is formed mainly as a result of the metamorphosis of green marble, a serpentine rock. "Green marble is a hydrous magnesium silicate rock which, under different temperatures and pressure, undergoes metamorphism to form either asbestos or soapstone,' points out A K Vaish, superintending geologist, Department of Mines and Geology, Rajasthan.
As such, asbestos and soapstone are mostly found together. Soapstone is mined and used for making talcum powders and various other cosmetic products. After the ban on asbestos mining, illegal miners have adopted a clever modus operandi. They have starting taking leases for soapstone and also mine asbestos on the sly.
Senior RSPCB officials say they cannot do much to control the menace as "these operations are too small and also because people take refuge in the soapstone alibi.' An excuse for apathy?
Related Content
- Coal vs renewables investment report
- Evaluating readiness for renewable energy adoption in India: a multi-state survey of industrial and residential power consumers
- Employing a systems thinking approach in climate risk assessments
- Immersive research for safer sanitation in Bihar and Maharashtra, India
- African shifts: the Africa climate mobility report- addressing climate-forced migration & displacement
- Reconciling conservation and global biodiversity goals with community land rights in Asia