Silicosis victims: Joint meeting on compensation called off due to civic elections in MP

The National Human Rights Commission had sent notices to the Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh governments to finally decide on the compensation amount for the nearly 1,000 victims of silicosis from both states.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had sent notices to the Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh governments to finally decide on the compensation amount for the nearly 1,000 victims of silicosis from both states. But now a joint meeting has been cancelled due to civic elections in Madhya Pradesh.

NHRC officials said a later date has been set for the meeting. An NHRC official said: We sent notices to the Chief Secretaries of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. A joint meeting was proposed by both governments to ascertain the compensation amount to be given to the victims of silicosis. On Tuesday,the meeting had to postponed because of the polls in Madhya Pradesh . We will get to know about a later date.

The official added that the decision to pay compensation was taken after the Supreme Court appointed NHRC to dispose of the silicosis cases.

Though the number of silicosis cases in Gujarat is relatively less compared to Madhya Pradesh,in the early 1990s,500 deaths were reported in Chhota Udepur taluka in Vadodara,bordering Madhya Pradesh.

Recently,after 15 workers from Alirajpur in Madhya Pradesh died of silicosis in a stone-crushing unit in Godhra,the Jhabua Collector announced a compensation of Rs 1 lakh. Even though relief efforts have been carried out at the state and regional levels with the help of various government departments and NGOs,this is for the first time that the state government,under the guidance of NHRC,will pay compensation for an occupational hazard.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram