Children - Terre des Hommes

52and pursued higher education. The presence of professionalcolleges in the township is evidence of the high importancegiven to education.However, when the company was closed down suddenly in2002, the entire population of KGF fell into a crisis withno alternative source of income or livelihood. The workersstated that although the salaries were not very high, yet theinfrastructure and free services provided to them by thecompany ensured that the basic needs of health, educationand public services were met. However, when the companyshut down, not only were the salaries withdrawn but so alsowere all the basic amenities. Since then the fate of the 4,345families has been a tragic struggle for survival. The 17 oddworkers’ unions contested the company’s decision which tookadvantage of the divisions among them and to this day, thereis no concrete solution that has emerged either through theBoard of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR), theSupreme Court or by the central government.For six long years the workers’ families held on to their agitationand KGF witnessed a tumultuous struggle of a communityfrom a life of dignity to one of desperation, impoverishmentand collapse of a morale that is the pride of miners. The shockof having no sustenance and the forced idleness of able-bodiedmen who were used to laborious work, led to serious anxietyrelated illnesses, alcoholism and crime. This also resulted indomestic violence, behavioural disorders and, more than 149suicides and stress related deaths. When interviewed by thestudy team, the Medical Officer of the government PrimaryHealth Centre (PHC) at KGF also confirmed this, althoughhe was reluctant to give the case records officially.After the closure, the company withdrew all amenities to theworkers, and state institutions did not take over as workerswere not in a position to pay for these services. Hence forseveral years, KGF remained without public services likedrinking water, electricity, sanitation and other amenities.Unable to sustain their families any longer, the workersreported that they accepted the monetary compensationoffered by the government, which amounted to approximately,Rs.150,000 for workers and about Rs.700,000 for officers.The only concession was that all the workers were allowedto retain the housing quarters by purchasing them fromthe company at nominal prices. Therefore, KGF today is amining town of mine workers without any mining activity orany other forms of economic opportunities. The houses of theworkers, with their bare furniture and sparse kitchens hiddenbehind occasional festivities, are evidence of the povertybrought upon the community by the mine closure. Neitherthe company nor the government have paid attention to thelong term impacts of the closure on the social and economiclife of the workers and washed their hands off with meremonetary compensation. The vast area of land, infrastructure,manpower are all lying wasted in despair.How Kolar Gold Fields Has BetrayedIts YouthThe children of the workers’ families were the most affectedby the company’s decision. Children’s education and socialsecurity faced the axe. As education was no longer a free service,many of the workers could not pay school fees during theperiod of the strike. Children faced humiliation at school andmany of them had to drop out. It was mainly the adolescentgirls and boys who were in high school who dropped out ofschool and were forced to take the responsibility of sustainingtheir families. Many of the workers felt humiliated to shiftto other petty jobs like working as watchmen, electricians,security guards or petty vendors, and preferred to remain idleand starving.This immediately shifted the responsibility of supporting thefamilies on teenage children. However, as KGF offers no jobopportunities, they have to travel out to the city of Bengaluruapproximately 120 km away, in search of employment. Theworkers sardonically comment on the government’s generosityto the BGML employees when they speak about the railwayline and the trains that were introduced as compensationfor the mine closure. Every morning between 7,000 to12,000 youth and young adults leave for work to Bengaluruby these trains and return only late in the night. The studyteam saw packed crowds leaving at 6.00 am in the morningThe morning train that leaves from Kolar carries thousands of young boys andgirls to work in Bengaluru (photo June 2009)