HEAVY flow of water has rendered the
country's only underground salt mine at
Gumma in Himachal Pradesh unsafe.
Some of the salt from the rocks gets dissolved due to the heavy flow of water
which, makes them loose and unstable.
As a result, one of the mines has collapsed and another one faces the threat.
The authorities have failed to take any
remedial measures. The salt mines are
being managed by Hindustan Salt
Limited since 1963. Before this, it was
under the control of the Union ministry
for industries.
About 50 workers engaged in salt
mining at Gumma complain that they
risk their lives everyday while entering
the tunnel. The unit is also running in
loss as the demand for rock salt is
confined to Jammu and Kashmir,
Himachal and parts of Punjab. Only
with the setting up of a refinery can
edible salt and caustic soda be produced. The move for establishing a
refinery has been hanging in midair since the last 15 years. The factory
workers have resorted to indefinite
agitation for their demand for a
refinery.
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