Daily drudgery for a daily ingredient: For salt pan workers, occupational hazards are as pervasive as the sea
These workers often report hypertension not because of higher ingestion of salt but because they are forced to inhale salt aerosols throughout the day.Photographs by Chinky Shukla/CSE

Daily drudgery for a staple ingredient: For salt pan workers, occupational hazards are as pervasive as the sea

From skin ailments to blindness and malnutrition, the salt pan workers in Gujarat are vulnerable to several ailments and are among most underpaid labourers in the country
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It takes an ocean of sacrifices for the iodised salt to arrive at our dinner table. Ironically, the faceless people behind the intensive labour required to extract salt from the sea are the ones who often suffer from goitre — a disease caused by iodine deficiency.

It is because the salt they consume is the salt they produce which is bereft of iodisation. This process of adding iodine in the salt takes place in manufacturing plants far away from the reach of these underprivileged labourers.

Daily drudgery for a daily ingredient: For salt pan workers, occupational hazards are as pervasive as the sea
If the litany of issues faced by these workers weren't enough, exposure to white sunlight reflected off the salt mounds often blinds them for life.

The labourers in the salt pans of Gujarat's Rann of Kutch also report other ailments — chronic dermatitis, malnutrition, hypertension and kidney disease.

The hypertension is not because of higher ingestion of salt but because they are forced to inhale salt aerosols throughout the day.

Daily drudgery for a daily ingredient: For salt pan workers, occupational hazards are as pervasive as the sea
The daily wages for these workers range between Rs 50 - Rs 100.

The workers also report blisters on their legs from being in contact with saline water for long hours — the salinity only adds pain to their wounds as they try to make a living.

Daily drudgery for a daily ingredient: For salt pan workers, occupational hazards are as pervasive as the sea
A packet of salt that costs almost Rs 30 per kilogramme in the market fetches a salt worker a price of almost seven to 10 paisa.
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