Pushpendra Vaidya

Shaitan Mannu is so weak that one can count his bones. He goes short of breath, even when he sits for a while. Doctors have refused him further treatment. Any breath could be his last. His family has already taken Shaitan to be a living dead. Shaitan has silicosis.

The resident of Jhabua district’s Mandali village in Madhya Pradesh got the disease while working in a stone-crushing unit in the nearby state of Gujarat.

Every year tribals from the hinterlands of Madhya Pradesh like Dhar, Jhabua and Alirajpur move to the neighbouring state of Gujarat in search of a livelihood. They return with silicosis, a disease of the lungs caused by continuous exposure to dust, silica, cement and fine glass particles inhaled while working in places such as stone-crushing or cement units. As breathing becomes difficult, patients’ physical stamina dwindles. They get progressively weaker – till their death, which is slow and painful.

A decade-and-a-half-ago, several tribals from the villages in the three districts thronged the stone-crushing units in Gujarat for livelihood. They breathed in the fine dust particles and their lungs got saturated with silica. They realised too late about the serious consequences of the disease. Across 105 villages of the three districts, 1,721 people got silicosis; of them, 589 have succumbed.

Ganga of Jhabua’s Kaliya Viraan village is just seven. She lives with her young siblings, and they are forced to work as labourers to feed themselves. Their parents died due to silicosis within five years of starting working for a glass factory in Gujarat, leaving them orphaned and with no one to look after them.

Rajmal, 50, of the same village, is a silicosis patient. He is unable to either work as a labourer or tend to domestic chores. His lungs are scarred due to massive fibrosis or hardening. Doctors have already given up on him.

Before returning to the village, he was admitted in a hospital in Dahod in Gujarat for several days. He says he has to go back to Dahod to find work. He has two little children and two bighas of land. A few villagers help sow it and the family survives with whatever is produced on the land. The government has given him nothing except for a certificate that shows he has silicosis.

Bhangu also has silicosis. Her husband Bheelu Gajawa passed away last year from the same disease. She runs from pillar to post with certificates of her affliction and her husband’s death, but has failed to secure any help from the government. She gets a few pills from the local dispensary in the name of treatment and lives in the hope of survival.

Dinesh Raisingh Kumar, who suffers from silicosis, said: “Doctors say there is no cure for this disease but still, everyone continues to visit various private doctors. Some sell land and their homes, others their livestock like goats, to fund their treatment. Many have perished leaving behind their children orphaned and impoverished.”

Kashaldara’s Dinesh has been bedridden for a year. He had been to Godhra and Dahod of Gujarat in 2002-03 to work as a stone crusher. The powder obtained by crushing stones is used to produce glass. For a 20-kilo sack, he used to get Rs 50. Having no work opportunity back home, he had to take up this work in Gujarat.

It only took 2-3 months for his health to deteriorate. Although he returned to his village within a few months, he brought back a lifelong ailment with him. He experiences shortness of breath and an incessant cough. He cannot even exert a little. At 35 years of age, death looms larger above Dinesh who has two little children to look after. Despite the impending death, Dinesh fights for the rights of other silicosis patients.

Another silicosis patient said: “The doctor has told me ‘live as long as you can. We can do little besides giving you medicines.’ Now if we tell this at our homes, our kids get worried and scared.”