Skip to main content

Himachal migrant women's death: 'Highly hazardous' units operate sans clearances

By Bharat Dogra* 

On the morning of February 22 in a very tragic accident in an illegal firecrackers factory at Baathu (Una district of Himachal Pradesh), six women migrant workers were burnt to death. These included mother and daughter from a single family. Fourteen other workers, most of them also women migrant workers, were injured. In most cases injuries are serious. In fact, most of the injured had to be rushed to Chandigarh. The sight of badly burnt bodies was an extremely painful one.
Almost 60 per cent of the workers employed in this factory have been injured or have perished. The worst affected are stated are stated to be those filling explosives into crackers. All the victims come from very poor households.
Clearly there was a glaring violation of safety norms. A highly hazardous unit was functioning without the necessary clearances and without there being much awareness of preventing measures needed in the context of its high hazard potential. As the workers were very poor, docile and unable to raise safety issue in an effective way and as there were no inspections of the highly hazardous unit, the alarming violation of safety norms had continued unabated.
In fact a smaller accident had taken place just about a week back in this unit but had been hushed up. If timely action had been taken at that time in the interests of safety, this bigger tragedy on February 22 could have been avoided.
It has been noticed that in such cases local people are generally keen to cooperate in any efforts to improve safety. In fact they were in the forefront of helping workers to be rushed to hospital when ambulance was initially delayed.
This helpful attitude of neighbouring people, who too are keen to avoid hazardous units being set up in their area, should be used to identify high hazard units and takely timely safety measures.
Women migrant workers in such conditions suffer from triple vulnerability -- they are very poor, they are outsiders lacking local support and they are women. The triple vulnerability of gender, region and class renders them so docile that they are unable to raise even the most urgent issues, a reason why employers prefer to employ them.
However this is all the more reason why the local authorities and particularly the labour officials should play a more active role on their own in keeping track of their problems, particularly safety risks, and extending protection to them.
Unfortunately such a pro-active role of labour departments is seldom seen, with the result that highly unsafe conditions go undetected for too long till they result in some big accident.
This had been noticed widely in the context of another serious accident in recent times in the neighbouring state of Haryana in Dadam mines ( Bhiwani district). In fact the year started with this serious accident on January 1 in which three deaths were immediately reported and other deaths were also feared.
Around the time of this accident, widespread safety violations, including excessive excavation and blasting, were widely reported and several local persons made statements criticising the high risk, excessive working of mines to get more profits, resulting in conditions where an accident was just waiting to happen.
Painful tragedy of six women migrant workers burning to death in Himachal accident emphasizes urgent need for better safety
A stone mine is not something that can be hidden from public view. If conditions over a period of time were so obviously risky, what prevented the authorities from taking timely action to protect safety and save human lives?
Even after the accident of January 1, doubts lingered that adequate steps had not been taken to find out if a larger number of workers or other had been buried in the stone mines in this accident.
In recent weeks increasing numbers of occupational accidents have been reported, whether in the Haryana-Himachal belt or in the country as a whole. Clearly occupational safety is not receiving the attention it needs, and improvements at several levels are urgently needed.
In several contexts risks to industrial, mining , construction, transport and even farm workers ( who now have to handle more hazardous pesticides and weedicides and use more machinery) are becoming more serious and safety steps have to become more extensive, but this is being neglected.
To save human lives and to prevent serious accidents, the neglected area of occupational safety should receive more attention. In addition the concerns of occupational safety should also reach the more neglected sections like migrant workers, women workers and workers employed in more remote areas.
---
*Honorary convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include ‘India’s Quest for Sustainability and Healthy Food’ and ‘Man Over Machine’

Comments

TRENDING

Wave of disappearances sparks human rights fears for activists in Delhi

By Harsh Thakor*  A philosophy student from Zakir Hussain College, Delhi University, and an activist associated with Nazariya magazine, Rudra, has been reported missing since the morning of July 19, 2025. This disappearance adds to a growing concern among human rights advocates regarding the escalating number of detentions and disappearances of activists in Delhi.

How community leaders overcome obstacles to protect forests and pastures in remote villages

By Bharat Dogra  Dheera Ram Kapaya grew up in such poverty that, unable to attend school himself, he would carry another boy’s heavy school bag for five kilometers just to get a scoop of daliya (porridge). When he was finally able to attend school, he had to leave after class five to join other adolescent workers. However, as soon as opportunities arose, he involved himself in community efforts—promoting forest protection, adult literacy, and other constructive initiatives. His hidden talent for writing emerged during this time, and he became known for the songs and street play scripts he created to promote forest conservation, discourage child marriages, and support other social reforms.

‘Act of war on agriculture’: Aruna Rodrigues slams GM crop expansion and regulatory apathy

By Rosamma Thomas*  Expressing appreciation to the Union Agriculture Minister for inviting suggestions from farmers and concerned citizens on the sharp decline in cotton crop productivity, Aruna Rodrigues—lead petitioner in the Supreme Court case ongoing since 2005 that seeks a moratorium on genetically modified (GM) crops—wrote to Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on July 14, 2025, stating that conflicts of interest have infiltrated India’s regulatory system like a spreading cancer, including within the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR).

The GMO illusion: Three decades of hype, harm, and false hope

By Sridhar Radhakrishnan  Three decades of hype, billions of dollars spent, and still no miracle crop. It's time to abandon the GMO biotech fairy tale and return to the soil, the seed, and the farmer. “Trust us,” they said. “GMOs will feed the world.” Picture a world where there is plenty of food, no hunger, fields grow without chemical pesticides, children are saved from malnutrition, and people live healthily.

'Bengali Muslim migrant workers face crackdown in Gurgaon': Academic raises alarm

By A Representative   Political analyst and retired Delhi University professor Shamsul Islam has raised serious concerns over the ongoing targeting and detention of Muslim migrant workers from West Bengal in Gurgaon, Haryana. In a public statement, Islam described the situation as "brutal repression" and accused law enforcement agencies of detaining migrants arbitrarily under the pretext of verifying their citizenship.

Deaths in Chhattisgarh are not just numbers – they mark a deeper democratic crisis

By Sunil Kumar  For a while, I had withdrawn into a quieter life, seeking solace in nature. But the rising tide of state-sponsored violence and recurring conflict across India has compelled deeper reflection. The recent incidents of killings in central India—particularly in Chhattisgarh—are not isolated acts. They point to a larger and ongoing crisis that concerns the health of democracy and the treatment of marginalised communities.

Sandra Gonzalez Sanabria: An inspiring life from Colombia’s Amazonian valley

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  In the village of Héctor Ramírez, known as Agua Bonita, in La Montañita, Caquetá, Colombia, a vision of peace and renewal is unfolding. In the pre-2016 period, this would have been nearly impossible for outsiders to visit, as it was the epicenter of violent resistance against state oppression. However, after the Peace Accord was signed between the Colombian government and former revolutionaries—marking the end of a 70-year insurgency that claimed over 400,000 lives until 2025, including civilians, rebel fighters, and security personnel—things began to change. Visiting Agua Bonita during the Global Land Forum in Bogotá revealed a village of hope and resilience. Former FARC revolutionaries have settled here and transformed the village into a center of peace and aspiration.

Indigenous Karen activist calls for global solidarity amid continued struggles in Burma

By A Representative   At the International Festival for People’s Rights and Struggles (IFPRS), Naw Paw Pree, an Indigenous Karen activist from the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG), shared her experiences of oppression, resilience, and hope. Organized with the support of the International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL), the event brought together Indigenous and marginalized communities from across the globe, offering a rare safe space for shared learning, solidarity, and expression.

India’s zero-emission, eco-friendly energy strategies have a long way to go, despite impressive progress

By N.S. Venkataraman*   The recent report released by OPEC’s World Oil Outlook 2025 has predicted that by the year 2050, crude oil would replace coal as India’s key energy source. Clearly, OPEC expects that India’s dependence on fossil fuels for energy will continue to remain high in one form or another.