Over 40,000 labourers return to native areas after Duki coal mine attack

• 50,000 non-local labourers would work in Duki.
• They used to supply nearly 150 trucks of coal.
• Suspension of coal supply “affects” industrial production.

QUETTA: More than 40,000 labourers have returned to their native areas after the October 11 terrorist attack on coal mines in Duki, Balochistan.

According to the labour association on Saturday, the labourers were fraught with insecurity that led to suspension of coal supply across the district. Owners of the mines have reportedly not cleared dues of the workers as well.

The development comes one week after unidentified armed assailants launched a deadly attack with rockets on local coal mines in the Duki district in the wee hours of October 11, resulting in the death of 20 miners.

The outlaws had assembled the miners at one place and opened fire at them. Police had said the assailants used hand grenades and rockets in the attack.

The owner of the coal mines, District Chairman Haji Khairullah Nasir, had said that there were ten coal mines located in the area where the attackers not only carried out an assault but also set the mining machinery on fire.

The association said around 50,000 non-local labourers would work in more than 1,200 mines in the district. They used to supply nearly 150 trucks loaded with coal to Sindh, Punjab and other cities of Balochistan.

The labour association said suspension of the coal supply had affected the industrial production in the country.

As per the association, the volume of coal reserves was more than 250 million tonnes in Balochistan, where 80,000 workers worked in 2600 coal mines.

It said that the Balochistan government had announced a compensation of Rs1.5 million each for families of the workers killed in the Duki terrorist attack. However, the 20 labourers killed in the attack, including six hailing from Afghanistan, did not get the compensation, it maintained.