The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : 1942 child miner goes down memory lane

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Thursday, Jan 03, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

1942 child miner goes down memory lane

D. Chandra Bhaskar Rao

She was one among many children engaged at Kothagudem

Photo: G.N. Rao

Chilka Gopamma at the felicitation programme. —

YELLANDU (KHAMMAM DT): Those were the days when children were in demand for working in the coalmines. Hundreds of them toiled with their backs bent for eight hours a day, enduring great stress and discomfort. They were engaged for mining in cramped spaces that have little ventilation. Only the junctions of mining corridors were faintly illuminated.

‘No agriculture’

Chilka Gopamma was one among the child labourers who worked in the Five Shaft at Kothagudem before Independence. Some 200 coalminers were working in her shift and almost half of the hands engaged were children in the 10-14 age group.

It was the time when the paltry wage of Rs. 3 a fortnight was considered quite lucrative. And hence children in large numbers were wooed into the mining activity. Women of only the disadvantaged sections preferred to work in the underground mines. There was little agriculture in the area. Most of the women in the region preferred to rear sheep and goat. Gopamma worked at great depths of the underground mine because the family was in need of money.

Apprehension

Her mother Balamma was a first generation coal worker in the company. Earnings of Balamma and her daughter were more or less the same. Those who worked overtime used to be paid a few “annas” more. “Working underground is quite strenuous,” Gopamma said, adding that she never felt it an inappropriate work to be done by her gender. Women used to stay away from the mines more because they were apprehensive of the behaviour of workers and the English man managing the operations. Children were asked to be very careful while walking down the slippery paths of the mine. English managers were appreciative of the way the children responded to the environment, she added. Recalling an accident that occurred in 1942, Gopamma said the roof of the mine collapsed. Many of those who were trapped were rescued except for four coal workers. There was little concern for the bereaved families.

After independence, she was transferred to Yellandu, which was just a habitation with a cluster of hutments. There was marked improvement in the conditions and the benefits for coal workers were substantial. Many women lost an opportunity to work in the mines as the Mines Act of 1952 had put a blanket ban on engaging them in hazardous conditions. Women were more or less confined to office work after Independence. Most of operations were mechanised gradually. “Now, mining is as safe as any other activity,” she said. Gopamma, who was the lone witness to the growth of the SCCL, was felicitated as part of the Singareni Day celebrations.

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