Former Finance Minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadei has demanded before the State Government to open all the non-operative mines and reengagement of retrenched labourers. “The Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) authorities and the State Government did not take timely action that led to closure of mines and rendered thousands of labourers jobless,'' Ghadei stated in a letter to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
“The OMC and other mine owners had been operating 34 iron, chromites and manganese mines in Jajpur and Keonjhar districts for the last 40 years. However, all the mines were closed since April 2006 as the corporation failed to get clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests. Over 50,000 labourers, who were depending on mines for their livelihood, are now suffering due to the inefficiency of some officials,'' Ghadei alleged.
Chromites mine workers of Sukinda and its nearby areas are constantly exposed to contaminated dust and water. Gastrointestinal bleeding, tuberculosis and asthma are common ailments. Infertility, birth defects and stillbirths have also resulted, added Ghadei.
The Blacksmith Institute, an America based organisation, included Sukinda Valley as the worst polluted places among ten places in the globe. Steel industries and chromites mines in Sukinda valley are discharging industrial and mines wastes in the Brahmani system, completely disregarding the laws of the land.