Vanishing Workers

The editorial titled “When Workers Die” (EPW, 11 November 2017) has documented “the death of 32 workers and grievous injuries to another 100” in a blast that occurred at the thermal power plant operated by the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) in Unchahar, Raebareli district, Uttar Pradesh, on 1 November 2017.

The Delhi Soldiarity Group gives sordid details of this workers’ tragedy in its report titled “A Preliminary Report on Unchahar Tragedy,” published in December 2017. This group has visited the site and conducted interviews with various contract workers. The report says, most of the workers at the Unchahar plant are migrants from Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, and are hired by contractors. During its interactions with workers, they have revealed that many people are missing from the list of deceased and injured, and that “the number of deaths is much higher than what is mentioned by the authorities.” It is apprehended by the workers that “a number of people are still buried under the ash.”