Company Name : Generic Source : The Times Of India

AHMEDABAD: 30 members of Rajasthan State Mine Labour Union came to stage a protest at the National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH) in the city on Tuesday. They are demanding that the institute release the report of test conducted by it on asbestos miners. 

 

Rana Sengupta, managing trustee of Mines Labour Protection Campaign (MLPC) said that 19 out of 164 workers studied by NIOH have died already. "It is urgent that the NIOH hands us the report," said Sen, who along with the workers will be camping outside the NIOH campus till Friday. 

 

The workers said that the report is crucial to initiate protective measures and treat the affected and they will go on a hunger strike if their demand is not met. Sen said that the NIOH had conducted a study on 164 mine workers in Rajasthan, and tested them for asbestosis. 

 

"The report has not been released yet but they have declared that 93 of the workers are suspected to have been affected," said Sen. Asbestosis has been included in the list of occupational hazards and so they are entitled to compensations under the Workmen's Compensation Act. They had even applied for the information under RTI but still got no response. The report got delayed when a members of the NIOH team which conducted the test, resigned.