Volume 1, No. 5, July 2000

In February 2000, the government informed the BIFR that it would stop its financial support to the Kolar Gold Fields in 2000-2001, and that the last date for the workers to avail themselves of the VRS (Voluntary Retirement Scheme) was March 21, 2000. Those who did not, would be retrenched. The VRS package was for upto a mere Rs. 2 lakhs, for workers, whose fourth generation are working in these mines. This is a part of the government’s IMF-dictated policies to close down loss-making PSUs (Public Sector Units). The accumulated ‘losses’ of the KGF are Rs. 409 crores. The losses ofcourse, are the result of extensive corruption by top officials, and have been created by robbing the gold at cheap rates. Uptil 1980, the comprador lackeys in the government, continued to sell the gold to Britain at 1947 prices. Since then, the gold has been used to fill the vaults of the Reserve Bank of India, paying the company a pittance — the KGF never got the market price for the gold produced.

The government says that gold deposits are finishing. While a parliamentary standing committee, which visited KGF in 1995, said that : "The KGF schist belt is 80 kms of which only 8 kms of earth has been exploited. There are 72 kms of virgin unmined soil left...." Besides, the government also rejected an ICICI proposal for establishing a Rs. 200 crore metallurgical plant as part of the KGF rehabilitation package. The proposal said that the plant could extract 12 tons of gold from 33 million tons of tailings dumped outside the mines.

The truth is that, of late, the imperialist countries have been frantically selling their gold stock from their central bank vaults. With the gold standard for exchange rates long since removed, specifically the European countries and also America have, of late, been disposing of large parts of their gold stock onto third world countries. The Indian ruling lackeys, to please their imperialist masters, would rather purchase the gold from these foreign sharks than allow the KGF to survive. Even if it costs huge amounts in precious foreign exchange, they would rather destroy thousands of workers’ lives than displease their foreign masters.

This, of course, is just the final knock-out blow to the KGF workers, whose 120 year history has been that of producing vast wealth amidst grinding poverty, disease and inhuman living conditions.

Kolar, at one end of Karnataka, borders Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. The KGF were one of the oldest and biggest mines in the world. Started 120 years back by the British, it has produced 800 tonnes of gold worth Rs. 45,000 crores. These are the only mines in the world with a staggering 64 km of shafts connected by 1,320 kms of tunnels that criss-cross 8.5 sq. kms. The deepest mines go down 13,000 ft.

At the peak, these mines employed 34,631 workers — mostly from neighbouring Tamil Nadu. But in 1991-92 manpower was down to 10,388 and in 1998-99 it was a mere 4,345. In all these years no other industries have come up at Kolar, and the land has been destroyed through extensive drilling. There is no employment whatsoever for the present generation and no land to till. The government has also refused to part with the 13,000 acres of waste land in the vicinity, which, with some effort, could be revived for agriculture.

But even for the few, who are left with jobs in the mines, conditions continue to be appalling. Every miner is a third or fourth generation worker. They have worked at depths of upto 3 kms at high temperatures. They dwell in ramshackled places in unhygienic conditions, and have run up huge debts merely to get their children educated or their daughters married. Post retirement, many have taken up menial jobs or even begging. The work is extremely hard, and most are seriously afflicted with diseases like silicosis, T.B. and skin infections, due to the high content of silicon dust underground. Their life spans are short, either killed in ‘accidents’ underground or by silicosis. Till date, 6,000 workers have died in mine accidents. The compensation is ridiculously small in cases of accidents, while a silicosis death is supposed to be by ‘natural causes.’

Though several unions exist, even today wages are unbelievably low. Typically, Arul Das, after 21 years, gets a net salary per month of Rs. 2,600. He is being treated for silicosis. His father died after 19 years of service, of the same disease. Another, has worked 23 years. He takes home a pay of Rs. 2,050 ($45) per month. He too has silicosis.

Both revisionist and bourgeois unions have done nothing for the workers, except extract money from them. They are nothing but part of the criminal gang of robbers who are responsible for destroying thousands and thousands of lives of the workers and their families. To survive, wives and little girls, scavenge for pieces of coal and metal on the surface, dodging the surveillance of the North Indian mafia, employed as watchmen.

Except for 300, the workers, enmasse refused to take the government’s VRS package. They have decided to take to the path of struggle. While the official unions are seeking to destroy their militancy by petitioning the BIFR and putting cases in the courts, it is organisations like the KVR (Karnataka Vimochana Ranga) that are taking the workers and people of Kolar along the path of militant struggle. Meanwhile, the political vultures have also descended upon their prey, seeking to make political capital out of the people’s destitution. Having done nothing for decades, they now greedily eye a potential vote-bank, with spurious promises.

On March 21st a large procession was organised by a conglomeration of organisations at Bangalore. While most were Bangalore-based and did little to mobilise the people of Kolar, the KVR campaigned extensively and organised large contingents for the rally. On March 22 the KGF managing director, faced a sit-in by the employees and officers, as their salaries had not been paid. Then, on March 30th the KVR organised a huge rally and public meeting in Kolar itself. To make this a success volunteers camped in Kolar for 10 days campaigning extensively throughout the mine-areas. On March 31st, entire Kolar was closed down, responding to a bandh call by the KVR......also supported by some of the political parties, which have little credibility in the area. On that day schools, offices, factories, mines, transportation, etc — everything was closed down. Finally, on May 11th, a May Day rally and public meeting was held in Kolar.

Meanwhile, the struggle continues, with the KVR drawing the people into militant struggle and exposing the opportunist leaders who create illusions about the courts. Afterall, the people of Kolar have not forgotten the ultimate sacrifice of Com. Prasad, who was killed, four years ago, in Kolar, by the Karnataka police, who concocted a story of suicide. Also, the historic 21 day strike in 1930, of 18,000 KGF workers, is a tradition not easily forgotten.

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