ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday summoned a comprehensive report from the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) Punjab on the action taken against delinquent employers responsible for the deaths of 18 stone-crushing labourers in Gujranwala, who died of the incurable silicosis disease.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk had taken up the matter on an application by human rights activist Usama Khawar, who is a member of the Public Lawyers Front (PLF). The application had asked for suo motu action over the deaths.

The applicant had deplored that the men’s employers had failed to provide safe working conditions to labourers at stone-crushing factories. By condoning the environmental and occupational health hazards posed by stone-crushing factories, the respondents had acted in contravention of the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution, he argued.

Read: SC to take up case involving death of 18 stone crushers on Oct 1

The Punjab EPA in a June 24 reply had told the apex court that it had taken action against stone-crushing factories in the districts of Gujranwala, Sheikhupura, Sialkot, Kasur, and Gujrat which had been proceeded against under the Punjab Environment Protection Act 1997. The report said that in addition to the cases filed this year, similar cases that were instituted in 2012 against nine factories in Gujranwala were still pending before the environmental tribunal in Lahore.

On Tuesday, senior counsel Barrister Raheel Kamran Sheikh, on behalf of the petitioners, asked the court to ascertain the status of the cases pending before the tribunals.

At the counsel’s request, the court also ordered the Gujranwala district labour officer to appear in person on Dec 3 – when the case will be taken up next – to explain how much compensation had been distributed among the victims’ legal heirs after the Punjab government announced it would pay Rs300,000 to the family of each of the deceased men.

Also read:Factories of death

Barrister Sheikh also invited the attention of the Supreme Court to a recent investigation by the applicant, which established that more labourers had fallen victim to the deadly disease, such as three brothers, Allah Rakha, Muhammad Shahid and Muhammad Sajid, who died of silicosis in 2013. Ishfaaq Ahmad Shah, Mohammad Farooq, brothers Mohammad Afzal and Mohammad Manzoor, Mohammad Rafiq, Gul Nawaz, Shafiq Mehar, Asghar Ali Ansari, Altaf Ansari, Baba Bhoota, Tahir Shah, Zafar Machi, Sadiq Masih, Ashiq Ali and Mohammad Arshad died of the same disease between 2004 and 2013. Most of these deaths occurred in Gujranwala.

The barrister pleaded that it was expedient and would be in the interest of justice that government departments be immediately directed to take remedial measures to redress the grievances of labourers employed at stone-crushing factories.

He also asked the court to issue directions to the Punjab EPA and the Punjab Labour and Human Resources Department to furnish fresh reports. The court, however, asked the counsel to submit his contention in writing.

In an earlier application before the court, it was explained that work at these stone-crushing factories entailed the feeding of stones into grinding machines, which break large rocks into smaller stones and grind them into a fine powder. Working in this dust-filled environment, labourers mix the powdered stone with boric acid, and then pack the mixture into bags with shovels and their bare hands. The fine dust, known as powdered silica, scars the upper lobes of a person’s lungs. This leads to shortness of breath and severe coughing in victims, who are often misdiagnosed as having tuberculosis or pulmonary edema.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), occupational exposure to respirable crystalline silica is not only associated with silicosis but other fatal diseases including lung cancer and pulmonary tuberculosis. In addition, it may be related to development of autoimmune disorders, chronic renal disease and other adverse health effects.

Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2014