MUNNA Qureshi feels dizzy in close, cramped spaces. The heat and fumes emanating from gas cutters reflect off the walls of the narrow, cramped tunnel. Tiny, dark spaces, like the one he often finds himself in, make him giddy. Even the shards of light from the flames spitting out of the gas cutters do not help. The flames run the risk of injury and the fumes make him gasp for air.
The risks that Munna, 33, and other rat-hole miners like him run when they descend—sometimes fifteen metres into the earth—using only a narrow three-four foot pipe as a flimsy portal into the subterrain are immense. It is a portal that for many rat-hole miners has also doubled up as a cramped coffin in the past.
Last month, when all efforts that money and might could muster, including the commissioning of an expensive Auger drill machine, failed, hopes were pinned on rat-hole miners like Munna to burrow out the last of the debris from the Silkyara-Barkot tunnel. The tunnel had collapsed on November 12, trapping 41 workers inside for 17 days. It took 12 rat-hole miners from Dalit and Muslim communities in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh to extract them, when all the wherewithal of the state had failed.
Clearing debris and sewage fifteen metres below the surface is dark, dangerous living. After spending most of their days cramped in the narrow, dark cavity, when the first ray of the sun hits their bodies after they surface, it feels as if a “heavy load has been taken off our backs,” says Munna, who was involved in the Silkyara-Barkot tunnel rescue operation. The surface, he says, is a safe place to live.
Denne historien er fra December 21, 2023-utgaven av Outlook.
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Denne historien er fra December 21, 2023-utgaven av Outlook.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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The 'Invisible' Dalits
The debate over sub-categorisation of castes is likely to shape the political discourse in the upcoming state elections
Caste Census: To Conquer Or Conserve?
The caste census is generating heated debate, but even its most ardent proponents are not able to articulate a plan about how to use the resulting data
THE FATEFUL COMEDY
Actor-director Rajat Kapoor talks about adapting Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov into a Hindi play
Mad Hatter
When a leader takes off his topi and holds it in his hands while appealing for votes, it signals something extraordinary
Circle Within Circles
The caste question in Muslims.
Backward March
The Maratha reservation question may continue to mire the next government in the state
The 69% Exception
Quota within quota: lessons to be learned from Tamil Nadu
United Indifference
The perils of tweaking tribal identities
Two Nations, Two Destinies
The widely differing balance of power between the military and civilian leadership in India and Pakistan has significantly impacted democracy in the two countries
Crème de la Crème
The mainstream society thinks reservations are against right to equality. It’s high time they are seen in the context of right to justice.