JAIPUR | Sept 20, 2016: The directorate general of mines safety (DGMS) of the Government of India has decided to hold a meeting in New Delhi on September 29 to discuss the occupational health and safety survey that the Supreme Court sought in an interim ruling last month.

On August 23, the Supreme Court ordered 14 quartz factories in Gujarat to shut down because they were found responsible for causing silicosis among labourers who had migrated from Madhya Pradesh. Justices Kurian Joseph and Rohinton Fali Nariman, hearing the public interest litigation, ordered the chairman of the Gujarat Pollution Control Board to file Action Taken Report (ATR) without delay on another 16 units in Panchmahal district found to be non-compliant on pollution standards of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

The SC also sought a status report on all related factories in other states of Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Pondicherry, Haryana and Jharkhand, on similar grounds.

Eminent lawyer Prashant Bhusan, appearing for the victims, argued that the factories should be closed if they are found violating guidelines The court constituted a team of medical and health experts and NGOs to investigate the status of silicosis in seven states -- Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, Puducherry, Gujarat, and Jharkhand.

Rahul Guha, director general, mines safety, in a letter to the Mine Labourers' Protection Campaign on Monday, sought that its founder Rana Sengupta attend this meeting and come prepared with a list of silicosis patients and the facilities for medical treatment available and compensation paid. Sengupta has been requested to "suggest strategies to be adopted for the survey" that the SC has sought. On August 23, the court had sought a report on the survey "within eight weeks".

(Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/)