Look what my hands have become! When I come home after driving, I wash my hands repeatedly but within minutes, they’re the same. All of us who work in the mines cough constantly. When the phlegm comes out, it’s black in colour. Coal kills one’s appetite. Whatever I’m earning goes into medicines anyway. My future? Whatever I do in these 2, 4 or maximum 5 years, I’ll do, and then my story is over. When my body stops delivering, no company will keep us.”
— Vimlesh Sawhney, 40, open-cast mine driver, working for the last 15 years with a contractor of Northern Coal Limited Coal Mines.
LEFT: VIMLESH SAWHNEY’s HAND, CHILKADAND RIGHT: COMPANY LOGO OF A FIST, COAL TRUCK DEPOT OF NCL JAYANT MINES
