Stone quarries are easy to spot. The dust gives them away. Water sprinklers are hardly used to settle the dust. Local heavyweights own most quarries in Mahoba. 

Report by: Savvy Soumya Misra and Photographs by: Meeta Ahlawat

A worker wears an iron-mesh eye gear to keep stone splinters from hurting the eyes. Most women suffer from lower back pain since they work long hours. 

Report by: Savvy Soumya Misra and Photographs by: Meeta Ahlawat

Dust and allergy are part of growing up in quarries. A quarry worker brings her baby to the doctor after sores erupted on her scalp. The child had been scratching her ears for a week.

Report by: Savvy Soumya Misra and Photographs by: Meeta Ahlawat

Nibbling away little by little, workers strip the side of a hilltop while cutting for stone

Report by: Savvy Soumya Misra and Photographs by: Meeta Ahlawat

Workers take time off to exchange notes, perhaps on ways to deal with silicosis and tuberculosis. Regular employment is a dream come true but regular health check-up is asking for too much

Report by: Savvy Soumya Misra and Photographs by: Meeta Ahlawat

Streams of trucks ferry stones from quarries to crushing units on the road to Kabrai in Mahoba district, Uttar Pradesh. Stones are not regulated by the Indian Bureau of Mines. They fall in the minor minerals category, the domain of the state pollution boards

Report by: Savvy Soumya Misra and Photographs by: Meeta Ahlawat