Khambhat, Gujarat: Mukesh Chaganbhai, 34, is dying. There’s sand in his lungs from years of cutting and polishing the agate stones that go into everything from junk jewellery to landscaped gardens. Silicosis struck him and wife Sheetal, 30, a year ago.
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The couple have four children. The two youngest ones, aged seven and five, have been sent to stay with Sheetal’s parents. With the disease eating away at his lungs, Chaganbhai’s stick-like figure is wracked by coughing fits, breathlessness and fever.
Chaganbhai said he cut and polished stones for 17 years, partly because he needed to pay off a loan of Rs10,000 taken by his father; he was still repaying that until the silicosis struck. Chaganbhai’s parents and elder brother have already died from the disease. So have the five workers that Chaganbhai employed.
The clock is ticking: With silicosis eating away at his lungs, Mukesh Chaganbhai’s frame is wracked by coughing fits, breathlessness and fever. His main worry is about his children’s welfare. Ramesh Pathania / Mint
The children are his biggest worry—he doesn’t know who will provide for them when he dies.
The people of Shakarpur, close to the Gujarati trading town of Khambhat on the Arabian Sea, have for generations been polishing agate rocks, known for their colourful streaks and the ability to take on a smooth finish.
The finish is achieved by a process of dry grinding that throws up fine dust particles. Years of inhaling this dust causes the silicosis that kills the polishers.
Since 2005, the disease has killed 109 people in this village, the highest incidence reported in the state, according to People’s Training Research Centre (PTRC), a non-profit group, which provides medical aid to patients and supports a day-care centre for children of agate workers here. The workers have no social security cover nor do families get any compensation if the breadwinner dies. Nationwide, silicosis has been documented in medical surveys since the 1940s when cases were recorded at the Kolar Gold Fields. A 1991 survey carried out by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) estimated that more than three million people, mostly coal, manganese and zinc miners, were found to be having the disease.
The disease was also found among workers at quarry sites and slate and glass units. A report by the Ahmedabad-based National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH), under ICMR, said at least 10 million people in India are at risk from silicosis.