Arvind Gond, a resident of Gandhigram in Panna district, was just 12 years old when he began witnessing the devastating impact of mining on his family. Since 2014, Gond has lost several relatives to illnesses attributed to their long years of working in the region's stone mines.
The first tragedy struck in 2014 when Gond’s 65-year-old grandfather, Viren, passed away. The following year, his 42-year-old uncle Gajraj succumbed to illness. In 2017, his elder aunt, Bhuri Bai, died at just 38. Two years later, in 2019, her husband Hetram — Gond’s uncle — died at the age of 47.
However, the most heartbreaking loss for Gond came in 2022, when his father, Imrat Lal, passed away at the age of 45 after a prolonged illness.
Doctors had diagnosed all of these family members, except for Gond’s grandfather, with tuberculosis (TB). However, Gond suspects that they were all suffering from silicosis, a fatal lung disease caused by inhaling fine silica dust, common among workers in the mining industry. Only his grandfather had been formally diagnosed with silicosis, for which the family received a compensation of Rs 3 lakh after his death.
The series of deaths in Gond’s family highlights a grim pattern emerging in Panna’s mining communities, where silicosis often goes undiagnosed and mistaken for TB, leaving families grappling with untimely deaths and inadequate healthcare support.
Currently, Gond’s uncle Rajkumar, 50, is battling the disease. He has worked in stone mines since he was 15 and was diagnosed with silicosis in 2018. However, like others in Gandhigram, he was initially misdiagnosed with TB and given ineffective treatment for 14 months.
Despite knowing that the mines are killing him, Rajkumar continues to work out of necessity, as he has no land or alternative source of income. His wife and two sons have left for Gurgaon, Haryana to work as labourers, avoiding the deadly quarries that claimed the lives of so many others in their family.
In Gandhigram, silicosis has claimed six lives over the past decade, with three workers currently certified as suffering from the disease. Prithvi Trust, a local non-governmental organisation working with silicosis victims, estimated that there are 20 to 25 widows in the village, all of whom lost their husbands to the same fate. Women who worked in the mines alongside their spouses are also commonly affected by the disease.
Gond, now the sole breadwinner for his family, struggles with the heavy responsibility of caring for his younger sister and disabled mother, Tirsia Bai. After leaving school at 12 to support his ailing family, he worked as a labourer in Delhi, Gurgaon, Chandigarh and Panipat until 2019. He has since returned to Panna, where he now works in a diamond mine, earning Rs 300-400 a day.
Speaking to Down to Earth, Gond expressed the weight of his situation: “Boys my age go out and travel, but I have to raise a family. I have to think about my family’s situation before thinking about myself.”