Periyar’s 130th Birthday celebration

On 17th September Wednesday 2008 Periyar’s 130th Birthday celebration in Kgf at Frank and co area Marikuppam. The Dmk leaders wear presented around 10:00 am.

Mr. Y. Pushparaj, Mr. Manivannan, Mr. Nagalingam, Mr. Mohan, Mr. Natarajan,
Mr. Prakasham, Mr. Ratchat. Wear presented in the function.


Photo and Report by santhosh P kumar.

By
Santhosh

Anna’s 100th Birthday celebration

On 15th September Monday 2008 Anna Dorai 100th Birthday celebration was celebrated at marikuppam Additional Revertes lane area in Kgf. Chocolate wear distributed for Govt school children’s like Govt Telugu School and Govt Kannada and Tamil school.

DMK leaders
Mr. Y. Pushparaj, Mr. Manivannan, Mr. P natarajan, Mr. Mohan, Mr. Nagalingam
Mr. Natraj wear presented.

Photo’s
The 1st photo DMK flag hoisting.
The 2nd photo is flowering for Anna’s photo.
The 3rd photo from left Mr. P. Natarajan, Mr. Y. Pushparaj and Mr. Mohan.
The 4th and 5th photo group photo by DMK Members.
The 6th and 7th photo Chocolate distribution for Telugu school children’s.
The 8th and 9th photo Chocolate distribution for Kannada and Tamil school children’s by Mr. Y. Pushparaj and Mr. P. Natarajan and Mr. Mohan.

Photo and Report By santhosh P kumar

By
Santhosh

The Mother of Mines Feast

On 14-August-2008 Sunday It was 34th Annual feast of Mother of Mines Church in KGF. The Church was beautifully decorated and there was huge crowd in church premises from morning till midnight.

The lunch was provided for 50,000 members who were presented in feast and in evening mothers chariot was fully decorated and was in procession. Many peoples from many parts of Bangalore, kolar, Mysore, Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh wear presented.


The photographs are.

# The 1st , 2nd and 3rd photo are mother and Christ photo of the church.
# The 4th photo is outside view of The Mother Of Mines Church.
# The 5th photo is from left Pastor Y. Pushparaj, Mrs Rajeshwari Pushparaj and there elder son Mr P. Rajesh kumar were presented in feast.
# The 6th , 7th , 9th and 10th photo are outside of church and crowd who attended Feast.
# The 8th photo is Inside view of Mother Of Mines church.
# The 11th ,12th and 13th Photo is The lunch provided for all.

The Photo and Report by santhosh P kumar.


By
santhosh

Tennants shaft

The shaft is Tennants which is located in champion reef kolar gold fields.
The above photo shows the shaft, you can also see the ad mine office and fire emergency room which is completely destroyed. I have been there when I was 15 my father was working in tenants it was beautiful to see. I have seen many shafts in kgf because my Dad had worked in many shafts and I had a chance to see.

The 1st photo is Tennants shaft.
The 2nd photo is Tennants complex board.
The 3rd photo is Tennants complex campus.
The 4th and 5th photo is Tennants shaft Fire emergency room with busses.

The Photo by santhosh P kumar on 07 August 2008

BY
santhosh

Kolar gold field Battalion from 1903 to 1947

A few scarce badges fall into this category. Although arguably these could be better classed as items of "militaria" they never the less have a strong mining connection. The bulk of this badge grouping comprises cap or "sweat heart" badges issued to/by men serving in the various Sappers & Miners or Tunneling companies of the Royal Engineers Corps. during the Great War of 1914-18. During the First World War miners from all over the United Kingdom were drafted into the Royal Engineers in huge numbers to form special "Tunneling" or "Mining" companies. These companies were involved in the comparatively little known but highly important work of under mining and then exploding huge charges below the enemy trenches. German miners were similarly employed on their own side of the trenches and there are many accounts of miners from both sides engaging in under ground hand to hand fighting on those occasions when their tunnels accidentally met.
The rare cap badge illustrated above is from a very obscure British Empire unit (The Kolar Gold Field Battalion - in service from 1903 to 1947) formed presumably from British expatriates and local miners who worked in the lucrative mines of the Kolar Gold Fields near Bangalore, Southern India.

By

santhosh

Community-managed water initiative

xserProject:

Since 2006, with an initial grant from the Jersey Overseas Aid Commission, Homeless International has been able to support the Indian Alliance in piloting a community-managed water initiative in the town of Kolar Gold Field in the State of Karnataka, India. The scheme involves the design, building and management of a water pumping system by slum dwellers themselves.

Once one of the biggest mines in the world, the Kolar Gold Field mine closed in 2001 due to depleted deposits and inefficient extraction. As a result, unemployment and poverty is rife among the residents of the area, with the worst affected being the slum areas, where over 70,000 poor people live. The mining company used to provide water to the slum settlements but with the closure of the mine, the service was cut off. Water from the Karnataka City Water Supply Board is only being supplied once every 10 to 15 days, and residents have therefore been forced to buy water from passing tankers, which is costly.

The water initiative, which is expected to supply safe drinking water to over 25,000 people when complete, is also helping to create jobs for community members who are being employed to manage and maintain it. The costs of maintenance and management are being covered by small contributions from each family in the community, which amount to much less than they currently pay for water supplied privately from the passing tankers. The management and organisational requirements of the scheme are also building the community’s confidence and capacity and will stand them in good stead to address other challenges that they face, such as limited sanitation facilities.

So far, two borewells have been sunk in the Nagavaram Valley area and another in a settlement known as Gilbert’s Area. These wells are being connected by pipes to an existing small pumping station, which has been renovated. A more powerful water pump has been installed in another area of Kolar Gold Field to transfer water to a larger storage tank where the water is purified and then supplied to the surrounding slum settlements.

The municipal authorities in Kolar Gold Field, whilst not in a position to solve the problem of water supply themselves due to lack of resources, are fully supportive of this community-driven initiative. Using this project to set a precedent, the Indian Alliance hopes to encourage the municipal authorities to draw down State-level funds for similar schemes in the future.

Report by Homeless International

By
santhosh

The Mc Tag’s Incline Shaft.

The above Photographs are Mysore mines Mc Tag’s Incline Shaft. Which is located in Marikuppam at kolar gold fields, Karnataka state, INDIA?
Opposite to Marikuppam Railway station.

# the photo no zero is Mc Tag's gold mines shaft.

# the first Photo is Mc Tag’s incline Shaft.
# Second photo is Mc Tag’s incline shafts Engine room which is closed state and full of bushes covered.
# Third Photo is inside view of the shaft, which is covered by bushes.
# Fourth photo is Administrative block which is destroyed.
# Fifth photo is Employees canteen which is destroyed and covered with bushes.
# Securities guards for closed Mc Tag’s Incline Shaft.
Guards from

Left is Mr. Srinivas,
Center Mr. Krishna and
Right Mr. Ravi

The bike is mine. The bike Model is TVS Star City.
Photo by Santhosh P kumar

By
SANTHOSH

Railway Arch

A beauty ful railway Arch in Kolar gold Fields

Photo by Benny Thomas

by

santhosh

Oldest Railway Bridge

Oldest Railway Bridge which was built during the time of Britesh.

Photo by Benny Thomas

By

Santhosh

The Beautyfull Deers of Kolar Gold Fields

The beautyfull DEERS in Kolar gold fields.

Photo dy Mr.Benny Thomas.

By

santhosh

Death of a mine

With the closure of Bharat Gold Mines Limited now a reality, the livelihood concerns of its 3,800-strong workforce come to the fore.

PARVATHI MENON
in Kolar Gold Fields

AT least 5,000 commuters pack the morning Surana Express train from Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) to Bangalore each day. A majority of them are employees of Bharat Gold Mines Ltd who have been out of work ever since the BGML management declared its closure in April 2000, and stopped paying wages from March 2001. This decision led to the swift descent into poverty of a majority of the 3,800-strong workforce and their families, the overwhelming majority of whom are from Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe backgrounds. The workers, fourth generation miners who operated Asia's largest and deepest gold mine, now travel to Bangalore each day to seek work as construction labourers, head load workers, watchmen, waiters...

S. Ganesh, an underground worker in the Mysore Mines, works as a mason at Rs.80 a day, hardly enough to maintain his family comprising his wife and three children. He has pawned his belongings of value and has accumulated debts of Rs. 30,000.

Workers of Bharat Gold Mines Ltd, and their families, take out a rally in Bangalore demanding alternative jobs.

S. George, a worker for 22 years in the central BGML workshop, has ten family members including seven children between the ages of seven and 19. "I have been working off and on as a security guard, but the wages are even lower than the Rs.2,000 I used to take home as a BGML worker. I am now in debt for Rs.80,000," he said. "Our condition is desperate. We eat two instead of three meals a day and we don't know how we are going to survive," he says.

Many of the workers are deeply in debt. "Even the seth (moneylender) now says he has no money to give us," M. Kavita, an employee's wife said. She and her husband M. Kirubakaran pawned their valuables for Rs.15,000 and have accumulated loans amounting to Rs.20,000. They have taken to selling vegetables from their house. "We are lucky if we make ten or fifteen rupees a day from this," Kavita said.

Even though the Karnataka High Courthas not taken a final decision on the company's fate, there is a deep and perceptible sense of despondency and loss of hope amongst the workforce, reflected in the talk of mounting debts, starvation, death and suicide. "Several workers have died since the closure, owing to ill-health and lack of medical care, and in a few cases they have committed suicide," S. Shekharan, a miner for 23 years, said. "My family survives thanks to my brothers and sisters in Bangalore who help us." This correspondent went to the home of P. Pushparaj, a worker who hanged himself two months ago. The small hut was locked as his wife and daughter were away in Bangalore for the day. Neighbours said that Pushparaj left a suicide note in which he stated that the company's closure, which led to his personal difficulties, was the reason for his taking the drastic step.

Francis Kumar, 40, a worker who had three young children, developed high fever one evening. Rushed to hospital, he died the next morning. Francis' health had deteriorated since the closure, his family members said. He used to work late hours as a restaurant waiter, and was deeply worried about the future and what it held for the children. His family is being helped by kindly, and relatively better off, neighbours.

"So much publicity has been given to the suicides of farmers in different parts of the State," K. Rajendran, general secretary of the Janata Dal (S) labour cell, said. "There have been at least 40 deaths since the closure of the mines, all of which I believe were directly or indirectly linked to the closure."

THE entire KGF township with its population of three lakhs, and not just the employees, depended on BGML for survival. The death of the mines is choking its economy. The once humming township, set in picturesque, undulating countryside and given the name of 'Little England', is today silent and listless. Its residents find it hard to refashion their lives to a harsh new reality. The closure has affected every aspect of life and even the physical environment of the township. The shops and commercial establishments depended on a workforce with purchasing power. The local job market has shrunk, and even small manufacturing units, once dependent on the BGML, have closed down.

The worst affected, however, are the residential areas where over 70,000 persons - workers, ex-workers, and their families - live in small asbestos sheet-roofed homes. The company has withdrawn electricity, water and sanitation services. Many homes have had their electricity connections cut as workers can no longer afford to pay their bills. It is a common sight to see waiting queues of women with their plastic pots near the few water pumps in the miners' quarters. Sanitation services have been all but withdrawn from the colonies, and the stench of clogged sewage drains, and piles of uncleared garbage and refuse, permeates the living space. During the course of the year-long closure battle in the High Court, the BGML management handed over the sanitation and water supply functions to the Robertsonpet City Municipality and agreed to provide an assistance of Rs.50 lakhs. But sanitation and garbage disposal work have been almost stopped now, allege the residents of the colonies.

Yet another aspect of the situation that has caused anguish to BGML families is the matter of their children's education. The KGF township has several schools, both government and privately run. Workers now find it difficult to afford the fees, and the cost of books and stationery. Several employees said that schools did not release their children's results this year as fees had not been paid. M.P. Arogyadas, a teacher of Tamil in the St. Mary's Boys Higher Primary School, said that the pupil strength of the school had fallen and was only 250 now. Many parents are pulling children out of school as they cannot afford the fees and are sending them to work in shops, restaurants and automobile repair sheds. "Two of my sixth standard students, Prabhu and Karthik, are today working in a shop," he said. With their own lives a shambles, workers hoped that their children, armed with an education they themselves did not get, would build new lives. That dream is being shattered

"The situation of the workers is desperate and the township itself is threatened," said K. Rajendran. "Employees are now taking up all kinds of low paying jobs - construction work, painting, bar bending, loading and unloading. Some are even engaged in the cutting and selling of wood. Why are successive governments neglecting the plight of KGF?"

In its history of over two centuries, the Kolar Gold Mines has changed ownership several times. The mines were handed over to the Central government by the Mysore government in 1972 and became a public sector undertaking. By 1992, accumulated losses were over Rs.502 crores and it went before the Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR). While successive managements have presented the company's losses as being the result of the terminal depletion of high grade ore and the consequent increase in the cost of production, the unions and some industry analysts have taken a different point of view. According to them, the primary reason for the losses was the government's gold pricing policy. Till 1988, the Government of India, the sole purchaser of gold from BGML, was paying for it at the London Metal Exchange rate, which was just 10 per cent of the cost of gold in India. The difference in the price, which should have been given to the company as a subsidy, was instead given as a loan on interest. This put an enormous and unfair burden on the company.

A closed mine shaft at Kolar Gold Fields.

The BIFR appointed the Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (now ICICI Ltd) as the company's operating agency. In July 1997, ICICI recommended a rehabilitation package which envisaged an infusion of fresh capital of Rs.200 crores, an option that the Central government rejected. Several proposals for the running of the mines were made to the government, the BIFR and the Appellate Authority of Financial and Industrial Reconstruction (AAFIR). The unions put their own revival package before the BIFR in January 2000. This envisaged the company being given access to a revolving fund of Rs.10 crores from a financial institution. Under this scheme, bank credit was to have been on the hypothecation of stocks of raw material, semi-finished goods and bills.

The scheme anticipated that the company would break even in the third quarter of a two-year period.

Apart from schemes for conventional mining, a scheme was put up for surface mining. In July 2000, the Bharat Gold Mines Employees Union (BGMEU) put up a proposal before the AAFIR for extracting gold from the tailings. The tailings - the waste soil which over the years has formed long stretches of steep ridges, changing the landscape of the region - contain deposits of trace gold. "There is a gold mine above the mines," said V.J.K. Nair, president of the BGMEU. "Technical survey reports and government instituted surveys say that the 34 million tonnes of tailings contain 0.75 grammes of gold per tonne. This has a value of Rs.12,000 crores and can be processed for the next 16 to 18 years." The average realisation of gold per tonne when the mines were in operation was 2 gm, which has gone up to a maximum of 5 gm in some years. This scheme required an investment of around Rs.60 crores and, according to Nair, would have generated a profit of Rs.90 crores once the project was fully implemented. Nair said: "The AAFIR heard us out and actually gave a stay on the BIFR proceedings for a period of 45 days asking us to find the money. The government at that time had offered a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) of Rs.80 crores. Why could not they have used that to find ways of keeping the mines open?"

On April 16, 2001, the High Court quashed the closure order issued by the Ministry of Labour under Section 25(O) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. The winding-up order issued by the BIFR was also quashed by the court and it directed the BIFR to consider revival proposals. Operations had closed from April 2000, although idle wages were still being paid. The government and the company went in appeal to a Division Bench of the court and got a stay on the order of the single bench. "Although the court only issued a stay, the company proceeded on the assumption that the closure order was revived," said R.N. Godbole, general secretary of the Professional Workers Trade Union Centre of India (PWTUC). "They began to sell assets, like machinery, and in March this year, stopped paying wages." The Karnataka Electricity Board stopped power supply to the mines as the BGML was in arrears and was unable to pay its dues. With no power to pump water out, the centuries-old mines have now got flooded. "This is really a criminal act in which none will be held accountable," said Godbole. "The mines have been made inoperable, even for use at a future date. Lifts and machinery left in the shafts would have become totally unserviceable."

Although the unions are holding on to their demand that the mines be reopened, in practical terms it is a fair VRS package that they are now fighting for. In December 2000, the management offered a VRS that involved the payment of 45 days' salary for every year of service. Since there had been no major pay revision in BGML since 1987, the compensation the workers would have got would have been poor. The unions rejected this package. In November 2001, the government announced a Modified Voluntary Retirement Scheme (MVRS) in respect of companies which were running at that date, in which twice the compensation would be paid. Although the BGML unions have demanded the implementation of the MVRS, the government has refused it on the ground that the BGML was closed well before November 2001. This stand is questionable as the issue of final closure still awaits a court decision.

With the closure of the mines now a reality, citizen's groups like the BGML Revival Coordination Committee have tried to broad-base the "Save KGF" campaign. One of their demands to the Central and State governments is to make KGF, with its infrastructure, connectivity to Bangalore, good climate, and ready workforce, an investment destination, particularly for the software industry. This could provide the much-needed oxygen for KGF and its residents to survive.


Volume 19 - Issue 11, May 25 - June 07, 2002India's National Magazinefrom the publishers of THE HINDU
THE STATES


By
sannthosh

Bharat Gold Mines Limited

Bharat Gold Mines Limited or in short BGML is a public sector undertaking of the government of India.

Introduction

BGML is under the Department of Mines. It is primarily engaged in mining in its captive mines in Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) [located in Karnataka] and Andhra Pradesh and production of gold in KGF - a small town in Kolar District. As a diversification measure, the Company also undertakes mine construction, shaft sinking, manufacture of mining machinery and other fabricated items for outside clients for which it has set up a Mine Construction and Engineering Division. BGML was one of those mines which was the adding to the glory of India with its largest Production of Gold.“The desire of gold is not for gold. It is for the means of freedom and benefit.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson quotes
Everything is Limited and not for ever -
The Mines was pulled down in the year 2001 as the Gold Exhausted and no longer available in that huge amounts as before.

History

The current mines has a history of about 120 years, when the first mines were started by the British Raj and people from surrounding areas were brought as laborers to work in the mines. Thus the city of Kolar Gold Fields was born. But the actual mining of Gold itself goes back to many centuries, the Cholas of south India had small mining pits in the region.

Changing Hands

The Kolar Gold Mines were taken up for systematic exploitation by John Taylor & Sons in 1880. Then it went into the hands of the then Mysore state in 1947. The mines were handed over to the central Government in 1972 and BGML was formed. The company operates two mines in Mysore mines ,Champion mine & Nundydroog mine.

Glory Days

Bharath Gold Mines Limited(BGML) at KolarGold Fields was one of the largest Gold Mines in India until the in the year 2001. It is the largest and deepest gold mine in Asia. This mines was the first place in Asia to get electricity. It had a thriving population of Three million people at the peak of its production. The Gold Mine is spread over an area of seventeen square miles. The British Raj were the onnes to structure a well planned town and named it as Robertsonpet for the Non working populace of KGF. Bethamangala lake which is about 10 kilometers from the city was the major source of water to this town.
KGF(Kolar Gold Fields) was always on the top list crowned as largest Gold Producers for its continous contribution towards Production of Gold.

Silicosis

After the beginning of large scale mining, the workers were prone to various dieases related with breathing and lungs of which Silicosis is one of them. Silicosis is a progressive disease affecting the lung. Silicosis is caused by inhalation of the fine silica dust from the mines over many years. This was mostly identified and diagnosed in the workers of the Kolar Gold Mines.

Closure

The mines was closed in the year 2001 as the profit from mining gold was lesser than the cost involved.

photo by santhosh P kumar

santhosh

Dmk’s happiest movement.

Mr .Y.Pushparaj with Mr. Anbuazhagan.

It was a wonderful day for all DMK members in KGF. Because DMK (Dravida munatera kagaeam) Gen secretary Mr. Anbuazhagan was in KGF on 31-august 2008.
The grand meeting was held in moudi mahal at station road of KGF. Press peoples and DMK members wear presented in the meeting .

Mr. Anbuazhagan arrived from Chennai by Brindavan express and finished meeting by 3:00 PM and returned to Chennai by same Train at 3:45 PM.

Mr. Anbuazhagan addressed to the DMK Members that Tamil language and Kannada language are one mothers children’s everybody should feel that kannada speaking peoples are our belongings.

Tamil is the worlds first language then Telugu language and kannada language appeared .
Dravida language is the Mother, Dravidian language means Tamil , Telugu and Kannada .

He mentioned that Sanskrit language is a no language and it is a dead language.
Dravida nadu means kannada nadu also he told .

Mr. Anbuazhagan told that you all should think that you all are citizens of Karnataka state and he ended his message and awarded many DMK Members .

Photograph and Report by
Santhosh P kumar.