Document 0O2ynEXdZDYgwzZ42jBox4vn

FILE NAME: Shree Digvijay (SDV) DATE: 1983 Apr 16 DOC#: SDV027 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Letter from Thakorebhai Desal Smarak Bhavan to Barry Castleman RE Shree Digvijay Cement Co. CONSUM ER ED U CA TIO N AND RESEARCH CENTRE Thakorebhai Desai Smarak Bhavan, Near Law College, Ellisbridge, Ahmedabad-380 006. (India) C e m /D ig /' 83 April 16, 1983 Dear Mr. Castleman, Sub__Ahmedabad. I have just now received your letter of April 4, 1983. I am sorry not to have acknowledged the receipt of the material which you were good enough to send me. They were invaluable and the photographs are beautiful. Thank you. Let me tell you all that has happened since we took up this matter with Shri Digvijay. As soon as we had gone through the New Scientist write up/ we wrote to them pointing out all the lapses and violations of the 'Factory Laws' provisions viz-a-viz safety measures/ health records, etc. Initially they wrote back a very flattering letter about our activities and exonerated themselves of all responsibi lity putting it on other Government Authorities like the Railways, Pollution Board etc. But we wrote back pointing out that these were lapses for which they were responsible.under the Factory Laws. In the meanwhile I had, on my own, also visited the factory unofficially and scouted the adjoining area. As a result of our insistence and demands, the Factory Manager, Mr. Thakkar and the President Mr. S.R. Bhandari personally visited us at the Centre. We discussed all the matters at great length for a couple of hours. The upshot of this discussion was that we visited the factory premises and saft/ things for ourselves. It would be fair to say that some improvements have been made though much yet remains to be done. First, let me talk about the improvements made. As soon as we entesalbthe factory, we noticed the large Bill Boards allduround cautioning against Asbestos dust and the hazards of asbestos. Some how^ the Bill Boards appeared to be too new and shiny. A discrete enquiry with one of the vacuum cleaners revealed that the warnings had been put up only that morning. The fibre opening section is still a dry one, though they expect to change over to the wet system by the end of the year. Orders for the necessary equipment have already been placed. Consequently asbestos fibres still continue to float around. T R U S T E E S P rof. M anubhai Sh a h , Ahmedabad Tel. 0 . : 371371 R. : 441138 Telex : 0 1 2 - 2 1 4 * * * ^ Mr. Bhaskar Tanna, Ahmedabad Tel.0 . : 447744 R. : 447744 Mr. Pravin Parekh, New Delhi Tel.0 . : 381517 R. : 667703, 669397 M iss H em lsta H egiste, Ahmedabad Tel.0 . : 311702 R. : 392585 M rs. Sw aran Kohli, Bombay Tel.0. : 216220 R. : 240068 CONSUMER EDUCATION AND RESEARCH CENTRE 2 : f The pipe cutting-section however continues to remain a ary one and a lot of dust is thrown out. Though the workers had been provided with the masks and a nead cloth, it was obvious that they were not comfortable with them. I did ask some of them whether they liked the masks. Tbeir answer was in the negative. Then I tried on one of the* masks which the workers were using. It was realy uncomfortable because it hardly allowed one to breath comfortably. In fact it consisted fcof two layers of cloth, one was plain and the other was a kind of gauze layer. The masks looked tooclean for my liking. So I asked them when they had been given thise masks Interestingly, they replied, "Today". One vacuum cleaner to pick up asbestos dust^ was seen operating. Change and wash roomsjthough constructed were yet to be allotted to the workers. Workers in the Fibre-feeding and Pipe-finishing section had also been provided with gloves and overalls. However, no details regarding the health records of the ' workers have been maintained. This includes a general check-up ana radiological examination. The law stipulates a Chest sfian (Radiological Examination) within the first 6 months of recruit ment followed by an examination every 3 years. Digvijay has stated that they have been carrying out a medical inspection and that any worker found to be suffering from lung disorders have been transferred to other sections. Further according to them, it is tne responsibility cf the Certifying Surgeon of the Factory Inspectorate to carry out the surveillance maintain records. . According to us, it is their responsibility., Wastes continue to the dumped in and around the factory premises. So also, people living in the vicinity continue to be exposed to asbestos waste effluents as well as pieces of asbestos. A_gxeat ddal of asbestos dust continues to fly aroijnd^in the factory^ :Cdntxadt" Eabour al'sd'^ppe'arli^tb'^be^uhprotected. We are now going to hgve a final round of talks with the factory management. The purpose is to make them commit tnem- selves to time-bound phased programme to be implemented withina reasonable period of time, at the end of which all the issues would have been taken care of. We shall do our best to see that this programme has some sanction behind it so that it is enforce able at the judicial forum if need be. In the meanwhile, we have also been able to enlist the support of the Trade Union people who are supposed to be looking after the interests of their worker members at Digvijay. . ..2 CONSUMER EDUCATION AND RESEARCH CENTRE 3 : I hope that I have given you a satisfactorily detailed account of the matter. I am glad that you are addressing the John Hopkins School. Could I have an advance copy of the lecture which you propose to give them? It will, I am sure, make very i n t e r e s t ^ reading. I wish you good luck for the forth-coming lecture. II with best wishes, Yours sincerely, Legal Research Coordinator. P.S: Could we use relevant extracts from your lecture for reproducing in our journal etc? Mr. Barry Castleman Environmental Consultant 1722 Linden Avenue Baltimore, Mar^ land_-__21217