Illegal mica mining continues unabated in Jharkhand, causing deaths and diseases
- Years ago mica mines were abandoned in Jharkhand but neither the mines were restored nor the local inhabitants were rehabilitated. As a result, villagers over the years continued visiting them to extract mica.
- From sudden death owing to mines caving in or slow death because of lung ailments, the illegal mines provide for villagers’ livelihood as well as cost them dearly.
- Local activists and human right workers believe that villagers merely collect mica flakes for their livelihood whereas private contractors have been illegally mining it on a large scale in forests.
In Tisra village of Jharkhand’s mineral-rich Giridih district, about 180 kilometres north of state capital Ranchi, Shyam (name changed), a Dalit boy in his early adolescence, hustles his way through the forest area to a makeshift shop. He buys a handful of chickpeas, enough to satiate his and his older brother’s hunger after a day spent in an abandoned mica mine, which as per official records is non-operational.
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