SHILLONG: After many a death in coal mines in the past, another area of concern is the stone quarries.

Life in these quarries is risky for those who have no other means of livelihood.

The women stone breakers, who eke out a living by working dawn to dusk at the make-shift quarries, and the men assisting them by bringing down the big stones from the hillock, are a common sight along the road to Nongstoin, the headquarters of West Khasi Hills.

Several villagers at Porsohsat and Mawrok Porsohsat on the outskirts of Nongstoin are engaged in stone breaking though the work is hazardous, especially for women.

During a recent visit to these road side stone quarries by this reporter, it was revealed that the job is difficult but women have no other option but to depend on menial works to sustain their families.

In some pockets, children who came along with their mothers were seen breaking the smaller stones.

When approached, S Wahlang, a woman who was breaking stones with a hammer at Porsohsat under a shade made by balancing a broken tree branch between stones, said she and others were hired by the owners of stone quarry.

The women are paid Rs 18 a tin, which is equivalent to two baskets of stone chips.

Wahlang said usually they can fill only 20 baskets of stone chips by breaking stones, which will come around Rs 180 per day after working from 10 am to 5.30 pm.

The owners sell a tin of stone chips for Rs 35.

Sometimes, Wahlang’s husband too works in the stone quarry. The couple has four children to look after.

To protect the fingers while breaking the stones with hammers, the women tie small rubber sheets around them.

“Sometimes, fingers are injured but we have to treat them by ourselves,” Wahlang said.Her relatives who were working in the area also narrated their plight.

With no money to buy dynamites to break rocks, the men burn them with fire resulting in the cracking of stones which are brought down to the women working below.

Wanfulsi Lyngdoh Lyngkhoi, who came along with her daughter since it was a holiday, said she owns some stone quarries but at the same time works like others to make stone chips in the make-shift tent.

She said the workers will have to be careful as no compensation is paid due to any injury while breaking stones.

Meager wage and risky job at these quarries call for government intervention.