Kartik Mahato grasped the medical report while trembling. The phrase “progressive massive fibrosis” looked back at him like a death sentence. This 35-year-old Birbhum stone crusher could hardly make it up a flight of stairs without grasping for air. The doctor stated that his lungs were hardening, becoming the exact stone he had been crushing for the last fifteen years in order to provide for his family. Kartik is not alone. He is among the many who are subjected to the most heartbreaking irony in Birbhum: the men who build our homes are gradually and systematically having their lungs turned to stone.
In the red dust of Birbhum district, 1700 stone crushers operate like ghosts- all allegedly without proper licenses, grinding not just rocks but lives for profit. Around Rampurhat alone, 350 crushers employ workers from Birbhum and Santhal Pargana, all the while creating “occupational genocide in plain sight.” And the horror? Everyone is aware. Owners, officials, and the state- they all watch as silica dust buries these workers alive. Yet, each dawn, loaded trucks roll out, building India’s future on lungs turned to gravel.
Walk into any government office in Birbhum, and officials will proudly show you the West Bengal Silicosis Policy of 2023. It looks promising on paper- compensation for victims, medical board diagnosis, and rehabilitation schemes. But the Silicosis Diagnosis Board, which is mandated to meet every six months in each district to certify patients, often goes without meeting for years. The workers keep fighting for compensation for years while their condition keeps worsening. The Supreme Court ordered action this year. The National Human Rights Commission is “monitoring”. But this doesn’t heal the lungs. The system is designed to turn its back on the dying.
Silicosis doesn’t kill quickly or quietly. It starts with tiny silica particles that, once inhaled, cause lasting damage. The disease worsens over time- initially coughing, then breathlessness, chest pain, and eventually respiratory failure. Examine your surroundings. The office building, the apartment complex, and the roads we travel are all constructed using stones crushed by workers who can no longer breathe. We aren’t just building on their work- we are building on their corpses. Our comfort rises from their systematic execution.
The legal system’s response remains criminally inadequate. Birbhum hosts nearly 60 large and 800 small quarries, run by over 1,000 stone crushers- yet only a handful are legal. According to a Citizen for Justice and Peace 2022 report, of the known 217 quarries, just six have valid documents while the rest operate illegally. Most of the workers working in such factories don’t even exist on paper. The CBI and ED are probing a massive mining scam, as locals say illegal operations flourish openly, with zero accountability, safety and security for the workers.
Workers are drowning in poison- breathing six times more killer dust than human lungs can survive as India’s deadly 0.15 mg/m³ limit murders men while the world demands 0.025 mg/m³. Monitoring of dust levels is needed, and business owners must be mandated by the OHSC to install air quality monitors with real-time data access for both authorities and workers. DG FASLI must deploy surprise inspection teams across districts to catch violators red-handed whereas State Labour Departments need immediate capacity-building. Punish violations with extraordinary penalties while launching ICE awareness campaigns in local languages so workers understand their death sentences are preventable. Regular tracking of workers’ vitals- heart rate, oxygen levels, blood pressure, and digitised X-ray under Ayushman Bharat can help identify health risks early and map high-risk zones. Let medical professionals also staff the Pollution Control Boards and Human Rights Commissions. Healthcare experts, not paper-pushers, must write safety policies. Lives hang in the balance of implementation. Every delay means more workers suffocate while we debate.
Compensation cannot resurrect crystallized lungs. While governments collect mining royalties and corporations reap windfall profits, workers- the weakest link in this wealth chain- sacrifice their constitutional right to life for survival wages. The Law demands we protect the defenceless, not profit from their systematic suffocation.
